The Wind Mage of Remnant
by Aero1133
Summary: So what happens when the Contractor to the Spirit King of the Wind somehow finds himself in a world where everything threatens to eradicate humanity? Simple. He plans to profit off of it like the mercenary he is.
1. Chapter 1: Bar Brawl

**So, this is my first work on the site. With Kaze no Stigma being one of my favorite anime/light novels of all time, and RWBY being one of my current obsessions as well as a beautiful example of creativity, I figured that it could make great material. Enjoy!**

A young man was looking over the club, oh so creatively named The Club, with lazy eyes. The dance floor was filled with sweaty bodies, mostly of them intoxicated to one degree or another while a DJ wearing a cartoon bear head pumped out the music. The Club's security force could be seen mingling with the dancers or lounging around at the tables toward the walls. They were easily recognized by their red ties, black vests and fedoras, and black-rimmed shades. If that wasn't enough, the weapons each one had within reach served as a pretty reliable form of ID. Against most civilians, this was all the security Junior ever needed.

Kazuma, however, knew that against the occasional huntsman or criminal that came in the guards were worthless. Sure, they could crack some skulls if necessary, but they were by no means trained fighters. Only the Malachite sisters and Junior himself were really worth anything in a fight. The sisters could be seen on an upper level in their matching dresses. Miltia, the more quiet of the two, was wearing red, and had shoulder length black hair. Her weapons were a set of red gloves, each with a long pair of claws. Melanie, in her white and cyan dress, had hair down to the middle of her back and wore bladed heels. She was also the much more vocal and stubborn of the two. The twins shared bright green eyes and the same hourglass figure.

Junior, the club owner, was dressed similarly to his goons but without a hat or glasses. He was a very tall man with trimmed black hair which connected to a thick beard, and a mustache extended down on both sides of the mouth.

As Kazuma took in The Club's guests and security, Junior was doing the same to him. Kazuma was a young man who stood only a bit below himself, with messy brown hair and similarly colored eyes. He was wearing his usual attire, a black dress shirt with a few buttons undone, and a dark blue jacket that was left completely open. Grey slacks and black dress shoes finished the outfit, and with his relaxed posture he looked like any other 22 year old.

Junior had seen the guy fight though, and never wanted to see it again. Kazuma had first come into Junior's place a few months ago, asking for information. He paid well, though Junior suspected that he hadn't earned it in any legitimate way. But when Junior couldn't deliver, Kazuma was more than a bit ticked off. Junior was rumored to know just about everything that went on in Vale, but hadn't been prepared to answer questions about dimensional travel. After all, that was just the realm of science fiction. Kazuma had insisted that it was possible and viciously demanded information on it. Junior tried to have the enraged young man kicked out, but the two men who dared to touch him instantly lost their heads to an unseen force. The next two dozen who tried met with no more success, although they did survive.

Since then, Kazuma hung around quite often, just drinking and lazing around. Junior didn't hold a grudge about the two deaths, since Kazuma had been a paying customer since then and attracted quite a bit of business. He wasn't a lady killer, but he was still plenty handsome, with chiseled features and eyes that could see everything. That was literal, actually: much to Junior's confusion, Kazuma had, on several occasions, dodged flying objects come from directly behind or above.

He also put out a certain feeling of power that women seemed to gravitate towards and weaker men avoided like the plague. The Malachite twins had even approached him many times, but never seemed any closer to seducing him. He was just too damn calm all the time. Even when his arm was pressed into a woman's cleavage, the most he would do is smirk and raise an eyebrow, then usually proceed to reverse the seduction, turning the girl into a blushing mess. Junior wished he had that kind of ability, but it was all a result of Kazuma's unique personality.

Feeling someone just outside the club, the young man eyed the doors. Noticing his customer's gaze, Junior followed suite. Again, Kazuma seemed to sense everything, so if his attention was grabbed by something, it was probably important. The person who came in was certainly beautiful. A pale skinned girl, not quite a woman, of about 5' 8" was strolling in with a sway to her hips. She had an hourglass figure similar to the twins, but stood slightly taller and her curves were quite a bit more pronounced. Her hair was a mass of golden waves that came down to her waist, if not slightly past it. A slightly rounded face housed lilac eyes and a wide grin.

Her clothes showed off her body quite well, and there was no way she wasn't aware of it. A yellow top did a less than perfect job of covering her breasts, with a tan leather jacket covering her upper arms and torso, though it showed off her midriff. The arms of the jacket ended in black cuffs just above the elbows. Black fingerless gloves were seen underneath golden bracelets, which if Kazuma were to wager, were some kind of weapon. They just looked too mechanical to not be.

The girl wore tight black shorts, leaving her legs almost entirely on display. Around her waist was a leather belt and a hip cape bearing a yellow burning heart symbol, similar to one on her top that was partially hidden. The girl apparently loved leather, because she was also wearing tall leather boots. A pair of orange socks came out of them, but only one was pulled up to it's position above her knee.

Overall, Kazuma gave her an eight. Her beauty was stunning, but he could tell she was cocky and probably violent, which lowered her score a little. If she had some humility and shame, she might get a ten. Of course, he personally didn't mind a self-confident girl, so in his book she was a nine or a ten, but he was looking at it objectively, and most guys liked girls who were at least somewhat submissive.

The blonde girl walked up to the bar and called for a Strawberry Sunrise. "Aren't you a little young to be in this club, blondie?"

The blonde looked at the owner playfully and retorted with "Aren't you a little old to have a name like Junior?"

He looked impressed that she had done her homework. "So you know who I am. You got a name, sweetheart?"

"Yes Junior, I've got several. But instead of sweetheart," she casually ran a finger down his arm, "you can call me sir!" She illustrated her point by grabbing the older man by the balls, very tightly. Kazuma winced in sympathetic pain.

"People say you know everything. Tell me where I can find her and I'll let you go."

The girl pulled out a Scroll, expanding it to show the image of a young woman with features vaguely reminiscent of her own.

In a much higher pitch than before, Junior denied ever seeing the woman before. Displeased, the blonde girl only gripped harder. The man, knowing he was only moments away from losing something VERY precious to him, looked over to Kazuma for help. The young man wasn't just going to jump in, however. It wasn't his fight. He cocked an eyebrow and rubbed his thumb and index finger together in a gesture Junior easily recognized: Are you going to pay me?

Junior nodded, and Kazuma smirked. Getting up from his stool, the younger man was behind the blonde faster than anyone in the room could see, and caused her grip to slacken by using a joint lock on her arm. Shifting his weight and twisting his arms around, the bombshell was forced into the air and swiftly back onto the ground. By this point the guards, who had just surrounded the scene, began to run toward cover. They had seen this man fight once before, and two men were dead because of it.

In between rubbing his family jewels and generally looking pathetic, Junior shot a grateful look over to Kazuma before retreating to get his weapon.

Kazuma, in turn, was focusing on the girl who had taken that throw like a champ. Rather than being plowed into the floor, she had rolled as soon as his grip slackened and was now smiling again, but this time the grin was more excited than playful.

"Well hello, handsome. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of seeing you before. Yang, by the way, nice to meet you."

He had a cocky grin on his face as he replied. "Pleasure's mine. Kazuma."

"Well sorry Kazuma, but I'm gonna have to kick your fine ass for that little stunt. No hard feelings." Her bracelets began to unfold and cover her forearms, revealing a belt of shotgun shells. She punched the air three times, sending a trio of shots at him.

Kazuma didn't even bother to dodge, but instead set up a kekkai (barrier) of wind around himself, rendering the blasts completely ineffective. She charged him and came in with a jab to the gut, which was easily redirected and countered with a vicious hook to Yang's side. Taking a step back, she retaliated with a series of high-speed jabs and crosses, but Kazuma dodged or parried every one. She ended her barrage with a powerful uppercut into his chest, and finally managed to connect, sending Kazuma into the air with his back parallel to the ground. Just before impact, he used his arms to spring off the dance floor and landed on his feet.

Yang had already closed the distance between them, sending a right hook straight toward Kazuma's jaw. He backpedaled to avoid it, because that last hit had hurt quite a bit. It didn't help that she was using the recoil of those bracelets to increase the power. If his kekkai hadn't still been in effect to dampen the blow, he would have most likely broken several ribs. He was smiling though, because this was just too much damn fun! Since he arrived in Remnant six months ago, he hadn't gotten into even one satisfying fight, and here was a girl with enough strength to challenge him in a fistfight.

Kazuma grabbed Yang's arm as another straight went for his head, and pulled her into him. Her gut was met with a knee, but this time Kazuma's strike was amplified with a small amount of girl bent over and almost gagged, left helpless as Kazuma grabbed her shirt and threw her over his shoulder and into a nearby pillar of glass. It shattered, and Yang slowly emerged from where it had once stood. Her hair was glowing and fuming like fire, and her grin was even wider than before. She rushed her opponent again, this time noticeably faster. Her fist reared back and was sent directly toward the man's face. Kazuma twisted his body and allowed her momentum to carry her past him before delivering a palm thrust into the center of her back.

Blown forward by the immense force of another ki attack, Yang rolled to avoid face planting on the floor. She righted herself, and used her gauntlets, Ember Celica, to increase her speed as she charged again. This time she feinted and pivoted so that she would be in a blind spot. Unfortunately for her, Kazuma had no blind spots. He ducked under what was supposed to be a sucker punch to the back of the head and flipped his enemy over his back, pinning her to the ground with his knees and planting an elbow into her sternum. Feeling a crack and knocking the wind out of his opponent, Kazuma was forcibly thrown from his position. He landed on his feet, but gasped in pain when a fist slammed into his ribs. His kekkai had been shattered, though having it at all saved his ribs from being pulverized. Defending from bullets or energy attacks was one thing, but a wind barrier could only do so much against a firm fist, especially when that fist struck with what seemed to be several thousand pounds of force.

Flying back, Kazuma traveled long enough to recompose himself in midair, using wind to catch himself before he slammed into anything. He was about twenty meters from his target, who seemed confused that he hadn't hit a wall or smashed into the ground. Deciding the fight needed to end before he took serious damage, Kazuma collected wind spirits as quickly as possible. Using the power increase the spirits granted him, Kazuma sent out several Fists of Wind. The girl's head snapped upward and was lifted from her feet. The next one sent her flying off to the side, and yet another sent her back to the floor. From there three of the controlled explosions hit her simultaneously, visibly denting her cheek, abdomen, and chest. Yang finally stayed down, obviously knocked out from the beating.

 **So, if I get any real support for this story I'll be posting more. Hell, even if there isn't a single review or favorite I still might, I just won't make it as large a priority. Feel free to review with whatever comments you have.**


	2. Chapter 2: Alley Cat

**Hey! Decided that with a nice first day response, I'd publish the next chapter ASAP, so here it is. First to address reviews, though.**

 **Durmanstainer: Thanks for the support! Kazuma is one of my all time favorite characters, so seeing how he responds to a new environment seemed like a worthwhile story. Here's that update you wanted!**

 **ultima-owner: Indeed he will! Remnant is full of things to occupy the Contractor.**

 **lusians: I will be explaining how he got to Remnant, but it will be a while in coming. Probably not until Chapter 15 or 20, somewhere around that. I make no promises though, as I could be set back or move faster than I'm currently expecting to.**

 **YukiAsuna-Chan:Glad you like it! You're also very right that Kazuma could have kicked Yang's ass within seconds, but he didn't want to cause too much destruction or kill her. He also didn't gather any wind spirits until the end of the fight, so his original kekkai was very weak compared to what he would normally do. In comparing Genma to Yang, I'd have to disagree: Yang is likely the stronger of the two, if we're just counting pure punching power. Genma is much more skilled and has Enjutsu, but Yang is a pure brawler who focuses on strength almost entirely. Plus her Semblance allowed her crush the Paladin like so much paper. Even a fraction of that destructive power could go through a human body.**

 **Well, that about covers it. Enjoy the next chapter!**

Overall, Junior was having an off day. Everything was going fine, then that bimbo decided to show up. She seemed harmless until she literally had him by the balls. Now he was forced to pay Kazuma for handling it, and for the repairs on top of that. Admittedly, it could have been much worse. One pillar and a few holes in the floor wasn't that bad, especially since he wouldn't be paying any medical bills this time. The real problem was Kazuma's fee.

100,00 Lien. That's what the mercenary demanded. Well, that and all his drinks were on the house for the next month. Junior tried to negotiate, but Kazuma shut down any attempt at bartering. Worse, if Junior didn't give him the money by the end of the month, the madman had threatened to take the whole place apart. Sighing, he took another shot of whiskey and admitted that this was still a favorable outcome. Not only would it boost his reputation, seeing as Kazuma was a regular, but nobody had been hurt, his pride excluded.

For Kazuma's part, things were looking up. This was the first real fight he'd had since he got to Vale. Sure, he'd been doing some work by exterminating Grimm and hunting down criminals, but none of it was really a challenge. This wouldn't have been much of a fight either if he'd decided to use wind magic more heavily, but that would have decimated the place or killed Yang. While Kazuma had no problem killing his opponents, he only did so if they threatened his life or if he was pissed off. There was no gain in being arrested. From the beginning he'd known Yang wasn't aiming to kill anybody, and with her Aura he actually had to try to do damage. Plus he was getting paid, which was always nice.

After the fight, Kazuma carried the beauty outside and was pleasantly surprised to find someone looking for her. Turns out Yang's sister had been out looking for her all night and and finally tracked the brawler to The Club. Ruby was two years younger than Yang and about half a foot shorter. She wore a mostly black outfit with lots of red trim and lace. The blouse, corset, and skirt were rather simple, excluding the trimming on the latter. Black leggings led to combat boots, and around her waist was a black belt with ammo and and a stylized silver rose. Two pins shaped like crosses held a bright red cloak to her shoulders. Her skin was the same tone as her sister's, but her face was slightly more angled. Silver eyes contrasted with black hair which was tinted with red toward the tips.

After apologizing heavily for her sister's actions, Ruby dashed off to catch a ferry to Patch. A little awkward, but a nice enough girl. Reminded Kazuma a little bit of his brother Ren. Which brought his thoughts back to the few members of his former family that he didn't absolutely detest. There were only four people who made that list: His father Genma, his brother Ren, the clan head Juugo, and his stubborn cousin Ayano. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't despise his father, they just had a very intense rivalry and kept each other at arm's length. He would be lying if he said that he had never harbored ill intent against the man, but it was something he got over with time and a satisfying grudge match.

Returning to the situation at hand, Kazuma decided that he'd had enough action for one night and walked home. It wasn't all that long of a walk, only about 10 minutes from The Club.

The apartment was about what one would expect of a bachelor living on his own, except clean. The door opened into a simply arranged living room, with a couch and coffee table facing the small wall-mounted television. The kitchen was separated from it by a counter and an open doorway. Down a short hall one could see a bathroom and spare bedroom on the left and right, respectively, and the master bedroom at the end.

Kazuma removed his jacket and threw it onto the back of the couch before sitting down and turning on the news. Resting on the table in front of him were several varieties of dust, mostly crystals. A few weeks ago Kazuma had noticed something interesting about the substance. Dust, as this world knew it, was an energy propellent which could be activated by Aura. What none of them seemed to understand was how it actually worked, which was what Kazuma was slowly but persistently discovering. What he noticed back then was that when his partner for an extermination job used Fire Dust, it felt almost perfectly like Kannagi Enjutsu. Upon swinging his Dust-infused weapon, the man set a Beowolf ablaze, and Kazuma was able to detect a large amount of fire spirits creating the flames.

It was very strange the young practitioner. In his previous experience, he would have called it impossible. But since this world had people with animal traits, known as Faunus, and the Grimm, he was willing to broaden his horizons a bit. People either had the ability to manipulate the elements or they didn't, and that was the end of it. The only loophole was for someone to control (or be controlled by) some kind of spirit, usually a youma. Practitioners like Kazuma could manipulate their element and call upon the spirits to increase their power at will, but no person on Remnant seemed to show similar power.

Dust, however, circumnavigated this problem. The stuff was like catnip for spirits. By using Dust, humans and faunus were able to direct spirits that would otherwise wouldn't acknowledge the calls. Using Dust as ammo, as he'd seen many do, just attracted spirits and unleashed their power. For example, Fire Dust would explode more violently, causing the bullet to fly faster and possibly combust the target. Wind had greater penetrating power, and Lightning carried a charge.

Using Aura, the spirits could even be commanded to a certain extend, creating different shapes or changing their properties. It wasn't anything that a basic practitioner couldn't match, but it was still impressive that these people had figured out a way to use spirits without the talent to command them, and even mix the powers together to create entirely new phenomena.

Kazuma was learning to use dust himself, and had been very pleased with the results. Dust was normally very volatile in it's raw state, but that was when using Aura. Using ki instead had a very different reaction. Picking up a crystal, the wind mage channeled a small amount of ki into it and created a miniature tornado in his palm. He didn't have to gather any spirits, as they were immediately attracted to the green Wind Dust that he held, which began to erode. By using it, Kazuma had learned to bypass the charge time on many of his techniques. He still couldn't use the power of a Contractor without focusing, but Dust did lower the amount of time he needed to achieve that state. It took a monumental amount of the stuff, though. The vial of Dust he had used in his testing was about as long as his arm and twice as thick, filled to the top. He reached his Contractor state in about fifteen seconds, but used up almost the entire thing.

Done with his little test and his reminiscence, Kazuma began listening to Vale News Network. Things were pretty much the same as usual: Another Dust robbery by Torchwick, some dead Huntsmen, and hype over the next generation of young warriors to replace them. Come to think of it, Yang had been using Aura to protect herself, so she was most likely a Huntress in training. Kazuma's musings were interrupted when he felt something strange enter his sensing radius. He kept spirits monitoring the area at pretty much all times, having been in enough scrapes to learn the importance of reconnaissance. What he felt was someone running near his building, which was not strange in and of itself. What brought his suspicion onto the person was that she was being chased by four others, and they were all armed.

Kazuma typically stayed out of other people's business, but wasn't a big fan of somebody getting killed near his home. Opening the window, it didn't take him long to find out what was happening. They weren't even a block away, so he just flew in and landed on a building overlooking the scene. The prey in this instance was a girl dressed in black and white. She was slender but her curves were there. Her wavy black hair contrasted with light olive skin. Not as dark as the olive color seen around the Mediterranean, but still darker than many Vale natives. Slanted amber eyes gave the impression of a cat, though Kazuma may have been more convinced of that by the two black kitty ears on the top of her hair.

The girl had a white sleeveless top and oddly cut black vest. By oddly cut, Kazuma meant the fact that it barely covered anything on the front, since two shoulder straps came down to meet what looked like the negative space around an hourglass, but instead of being completely separated it did connect at the top of the stomach before flaring out to the sides like a pair of coattails, leaving her stomach exposed. Below that were a pair of white shorts with zippers on the front of each leg. Black stockings became violet as they reached her black heeled boots. Her left arm was covered by a black sleeve and both forearms were loosely wrapped in black ribbons. A similar ribbon was attached to the black cleaver, worn on her back. Seams on the weapon showed that it could separate, transform, or both.

The young woman's hunters were members of the White Fang, a Faunus terrorist organization. The armor and Grimm masks were a dead giveaway, plus not many civilians were armed with submachine guns and swords.

Kazuma remained perched on the building and decided to wait to see what happened. If his his help was needed, he'd swoop in and play the hero. Otherwise, there was no reason to get involved. The girl grabbed her cleaver as her assailants brought up their guns. After a moment spent staring each other down, the four men opened fire. To Kazuma's surprise, the little kitty created a clone to take the bullets for her, also using it to launch herself into the air. She landed behind the shooters, slicing into one's back. As he pitched forward, the others quickly drew their swords. The leftmost faunus swung down on her, but missed horribly as she sidestepped the clumsy attack. The back of her weapon impacted the swordsman's temple, knocking him immediately unconscious. The remaining two terrorists dashed at her, one lunging at her stomach and the other chopping from the side. It was clear that she was a much more skilled fighter, however, as the thrust was sidestepped and the swipe was parried by a sword that had been hidden within the cleaver a moment ago. The blade bit into the arm of one, sending him tumbling into his comrade. For good measure, she delivered a quick slash into each man's ribcage with the cleaver/sheath before taking a step back to compose herself.

It was then that she heard the sound of clapping from above. Looking up, the girl spotted Kazuma lounging on the edge of the roof with a smirk on his face. Immediately assuming he was an enemy, she shrunk down the sword into a more compact form and threw it at her observer while holding onto the ribbon. To her surprise, the kama (sickle) was repelled by a blast of wind and sent straight back at her. She caught her weapon and prepared for another assault when the man on the roof held up his hands.

"Come on now, Neko-chan, do you really think I'm the same as those dogs?" Kazuma teased. "I was just enjoying the show. I am curious as to why the White Fang would be after a fellow faunus, though."

The girl was completely silent, and through her mask of stoicism Kazuma saw the gears turning in her head. She was trying to determine whether or not her was a threat, and if so, if she should fight or run. A calm grin on his own face, Kazuma leaped down from the rooftop into the alley, using a small amount of wind to slow the fall. As he lazily approached, hands in his pockets, she backed up, only to feel her back slam into a solid wall of wind. Looking around, she saw that they were in a circle of visible air currents. Frightened and left with no escape, she pulled out her weapon, Gambol Shroud, in katana form and attempted to stab the man in front of her. She gasped when the blade met a barrier of extremely strong wind.

"You're far too weak to be going against me, girl. Put the butter knife away so we talk."

With no other option, she complied.

"I'm Kazuma Yagami, and you are on the run from the White Fang. I know that much. What I don't know is why they're after you or who you are. How about you start with that?"

For several seconds the cat faunus was silent. Deciding she had no real choice in the matter, she grudgingly began to speak. "Blake Belladonna. I left the White Fang, so they sent those guys to hunt me down and bring me back. Now let me go."

"Go where, exactly? The Faunus may have it better in Vale than in some other places, but I doubt anyone will just offer you a place to stay. Doubt you have much cash on you, either."

"And why is that your problem? Where I go and what I do are my decisions." As much as she didn't want to acknowledge it, he wasn't wrong. She had been planning on sleeping in an alley or sneaking into some public building, like a library.

Kazuma shrugged, before his features hardened and his voice became icy. Blake felt a wave of power slam into her chest, making breathing a very difficult operation. "You're right. It isn't my problem. But you'd be wise to remember something, Neko-chan. The weak bend to the will of the strong. If my whim is to kill you, I can do so in the blink of an eye, and if I decide to help you, you'd be wise to accept. I'm offering you a place to stay and a few meals a day until you find somewhere else to go or I get tired of having you around. So, what are you going to do?"

The shock on Blake's face couldn't have been any more apparent. This man had threatened her, dismissed her as a weakling, and offered her somewhere to live, all in just a few sentences. Seeing no other options, she nodded her head in acceptance. Suddenly the air returned to normal and the wall of wind behind her died down.

Kazuma was smiling again, as if he had just discovered a great secret. "Cool. Come with me, it's just around the corner." With that he walked off, and Blake followed after a moment of hesitation. She didn't dare go against this man's offer; she didn't know how, but she could tell that disobedience was a very bad idea. It didn't feel as if he would hunt her down and kill her. More like being around him became the only safe place to be, because anything that he wasn't protecting could be destroyed in an instant.

 **I always found it odd that the White Fang never went after Blake and that the time interval between her entry to Beacon isn't addressed. It's possible that her desertion was only days from going to Beacon, but it seems very unlikely. So I decided to put something in that space. Kazuma isn't just going to let her stay for free, though. He wouldn't do it if he didn't benefit in some way. I also wanted to link Dust to magic, and will later be going into the differences between Aura and ki.**

 **Hope you all enjoy! As before, I'd love to hear any comments or criticism. I'll be responding to any notable ones in before the start of the chapter like I did this time. Of course, there have only been four so far, so I decided to respond to them all.**


	3. Chapter 3: Unexpected Visitors

**Bit slower than the last update, but oh well. I tend to get really busy from Monday to Thursday, so it took me a few days to actually make a chapter. Also, for future reference: In this story, 1 Lien=10 cents, or 1 dollar=10 Lien. It is sure to come up again, so I'm making sure that it is understood.**

 **xbox432: Its funny you bring up a stray, because that's exactly how I thought of it. As to how much they affect each other in the future, well, this chapter should give at least a little insight into that.**

 **ThePizziaMan: Thanks for the encouragement! (Sarcasm intensifies) Kazuma wouldn't blackmail anyone, what are you talking about?**

 **I'm happy to see a decent amount of support for this story, and so without further ado, here we go!**

 **Update: Re-uploaded this chapter. "Zero Successes" was changed to "zero failures," as it should have been. Thanks to garoorar and for pointing it out.**

"Why are we here again?" asked a rather irritated cat Faunus.

"Because that's how stakeouts go, Neko-chan. Now be quiet, I'm trying to sleep."

Blake groaned slightly at the name. The only time Kazuma used her actual name was when he was talking to clients, but whenever he was addressing her she was "Neko-chan". Blake had studied up on foreign cultures during her time in the White Fang; after all, between raids all she could really do was read. It hadn't taken her more than a few seconds to remember the dead language he was using, and despite not being fluent she still understood the meaning behind it. She really could have gone without the cat jokes, too.

Despite her insistence, Kazuma had also refused to let her hide her ears under a bow anymore, so everyone knew she was a Faunus. She didn't like being so open about her identity. After all, even during her time with the Fang she had worn a bow. Now, if she even attempted to hide her ears in a ribbon, she felt a breeze run past them as scraps of cloth floated down around her head. There honestly wasn't much she could do about it, though. Kazuma had his foot down on this, and the man was even more stubborn than a particular bull Faunus she knew.

She didn't get discriminated against much anymore, but that was because she was almost always with her new partner. People still glared, but even humans with weak instincts were wary of the living tornado that was Kazuma. The primal strength he put out at times made sure of that.

Back in the present, it had been several weeks since their meeting, and he made her handle pretty much all of his work for him. As it turns out, Kazuma's role in battle is better suited toward mid-range combat and support, which left Blake as the forerunner. With her high speed, she could keep the Grimm distracted while Kazuma covered her and lazily picked them off. The pair was on one such mission now: discover the location of the Grimm pack, record their numbers, and destroy them if possible. "If possible" was read as "at almost any cost." Kazuma didn't want to return to this place if he could help it, because he was currently sleeping in a tree while Blake was perched in one nearby.

After what felt like hours, Blake saw movement in the distance. As a Faunus, her night vision picked out the forms of several Beowolves without much of an issue. She turned to alert Kazuma but he was already up. The man seemed to have a knack for knowing exactly what was going on in his surroundings.

"We'll go with the usual plan." He said in a bored tone.

"So you mean you want me to draw their attention while you follow at a distance and slice away at them?" she asked. She scowled slightly when her partner nodded shallowly. Growing even more annoyed but deciding not to press the issue any further, Blake dropped out of the tree with Kazuma close behind. She had Gambol Shroud in her hand, while he had his hands stuffed in his pockets. Before too long, Blake smelled the familiar stench of tobacco.

"Those Beowolves will smell you from a mile off. Put it out."

Blake didn't even have to look back to know Kazuma shrugged and stomped on the cigarette. They walked for just a few minutes before they reached the edge of a clearing, and from the cover of nearby brush they could see a pack of around four dozen Beowolves. Blake looked at Kazuma with a slightly worried look on her face. She didn't have the highest stamina reserves, and from what she'd seen Kazuma was a firm practitioner of the mantra "One shot, one kill." Facing off against that many Grimm, plus any attracted by the fighting, was going to be dangerous. Before she could say anything, however, Kazuma's aura of power bore down on her like it had in the alley.

The wind pressure in the area was terrifying, and the forest began to howl. The pack of Grimm felt the massive power and decided to investigate, proving that they were not very intelligent. If Blake had looked more closely, she may have noticed that most of the Beowolves were without spikes, indicating that they hadn't killed anyone yet. They were joined by several Ursa before the sky opened up. A massive sphere of wind encased the Grimm, trapping them within and injuring those that tried to tear through it. Gradually, as Blake watched, Kazuma's currently open hand began to curl into a fist. The prison shrunk according to his will, crushing and cutting apart the jet-black creatures residing within. Not even a minute later, the technique was released. What spewed forth was not the mangled bodies that Blake had expected. Instead there was only black mist and powder so fine that it flew away on residual breezes.

Blake had been stunned completely into silence whereas Kazuma, acting as if he hadn't just obliterated over fifty Grimm in a single move, walked away at a leisurely pace. Once she wrapped her mind around it, her curiosity got the better of her again.

"What was that?"

"It's the same thing as my defensive barrier, except made for destruction. Why?"

"Why haven't you used that on all of our jobs so far? It could have saved us so much trouble!"

"I gave you a place to stay, food to eat, and money to spend, Neko-chan. You could at least not grill me about my decisions. We've come out of every job alive, haven't we? And you're all the stronger because of it."

That statement gave Blake pause. It was true that he was treating her far better than she deserved, and that the constant battles with Grimm were helping her. She'd begun to feel lighter on her feet, and packed more power with each slash of her blade. It still left one bigh question though:

"Why are you doing all this for me?"

The young man simply smirked and shrugged again. "Does it matter? Maybe I'm just acting on a whim. When I was a kid I always wanted please my father by training hard and becoming strong. But I was only thinking of impressing him and pleasing myself. This power is to protect. I'm selfish, so I'll protect everything in front of me. Anyone who gets in my way won't get a shred of mercy from me."

She thought about those words all the way back to the village that had hired them, even while Kazuma was scaring the life out of the village head in an attempt to get their money. As it turns out, the villagers had expected the pair to die out there, but Blake didn't even register this fact. The Kazuma she had come to know was indeed selfish, as well as lazy, sadistic, intimidating, sarcastic, arrogant, and many, many other lovely and endearing traits. But hearing him refer to his power as a way to protect was something she hadn't expected. He just used it to get money, and the way he made money was. . . by killing Grimm and capturing criminals. It made sense now. Kazuma may be greedy, but he wasn't evil. He was making sure that everyone benefited when he did business, though he took the lion's share for himself.

He protected people, or at least those he deemed worthy of protection. His power kept people in line, which was why no one tried to harass her anymore. They knew if they did anything to her, Kazuma wouldn't take kindly to it.

Blake was once again snapped out of her musings as a small card of lien hit her in the side of the head. She glared at Kazuma, even more so when she saw that his share was about ten times larger than hers. 'He is REALLY selfish,' Blake thought to herself as she followed him out of the village. She had a small grin on her face as she caught up to him.

Noticing his companion's good mood, Kazuma raised an eyebrow at her. "What's got you in such a good mood? Did the villagers offer you some tuna?" he teased.

Blake just huffed and looked away in a playful gesture of annoyance. He'd discovered her love of tuna a few nights prior and took every opportunity he could to mess with her.

"Nothing, just laughing to myself for entertaining the notion that you might be kinder than you seem."

Kazuma hummed and considered this for a moment before replying. "Yup, that was dumb of you."

The pair walked in companionable silence toward the Bullhead they had hired to transport them there.

Once home, Blake began to cook dinner. Having to survive on military rations and what one could scavenge from around the camp made a person pick up cooking as a necessary skill. Kazuma was by no means a terrible cook either, but he payed the bills here. Plus Blake liked to watch him experiment with the Dust while she cooked. The way he used it was very different from anyone else on Remnant. Rather than the Dust just being a tool, he treated it as if it were alive. She even heard him occasional mumble a word of thanks to the "spirits."

Putting the Dust aside, Kazuma sighed and walked slowly toward the door. He opened it to see two people, a man and a woman, standing on the doormat.

The man was tall, standing around six and a half feet tall. He looked to be in this thirties, but his hair was unnaturally grey for that age. Around his neck was a green scarf with a cross emblem. He was wearing a black vest and open suit over a green shirt. His pants were a darker shade of green, and his shoes were similar to Kazuma's own. The man walked with a cane, which seemed strange for someone this young looking. A pair of wire-framed glasses were perched on his nose.

The woman looked slightly younger, but that may just be because of the man's grey hair. Her's was a bright blonde bun, and the bangs framed her face. She had bright green eyes covered by glasses and pale skin. Her white elegant white top came down to meet a long black skirt, which ended a few inches above the top of her black, knee-high boots. Hanging from her ears were two crystalline earrings, with a similar piece of jewelry hanging from her neck. A tattered-looking cape, black on the outside and purple within, hung from her shoulders. While it seemed worn at first glance, it seemed to be made that way on purpose.

The man had his hand raised in a fist as if her were about to knock.

"Can I help you?" Kazuma asked, face completely wiped of emotion. He was honestly a little annoyed by the interruption, but showing his irritation accomplished nothing in his mind.

The man recovered quickly, and began sipping from a mug of coffee he got from. . . actually where did he get it from? It just kind of appeared. "Indeed. I presume you are Kazuma Yagami?"

"I am," came the sharp reply.

"Ah, good. We seem to be in the right place. I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy. Behind me is my assistant, Glynda. I'd like to have a few words with you, as well as your partner if she's in at the moment."

Kazuma looked at the man for a few moments before calling back into the house. "Blake, we have guests. Make enough for four."

"Alright," was all he heard back.

He led the pair of teachers to the living room, pocketing the Dust crystal he had been using before heading into his room. Ozpin and Glynda sat on the couch. Glynda seemed nervous but professional, while Ozpin seemed relaxed enough to allow his eyes to wander. He noticed Blake mixing a pot in the kitchen, and a pot of rice seemed to have just been taken off the burner.

Kazuma returned with two comfy folding chairs, and set them across from the couch. No words were spoken for another couple minutes as the two men measured each other's worth. Kazuma finally broke the silence as Ozpin went to put down his coffee.

"Use a coaster, please. That table wasn't cheap."

With an apologetic nod, Ozpin pulled one from a stack on the table's corner. Blake came into the room with two plates and served their visitors. Dinner happened to be a rather strong curry, and a glass of wine was provided for Glynda. Both gave their thanks as their hosts went into the kitchen, returning with their own meals. Once everyone was seated, Kazuma and Blake gave thanks for the food.

"Itadakimasu," the two said together. It was a habit Blake had picked up from her partner and had quickly grown accustomed to. She liked how his culture seemed to give thanks to the world, and other people, for the things they enjoyed.

As they began eating, Ozpin started the conversation. "Mr. Yagami, I've heard impressive things about you. Impossible levels of wind manipulation, novel and strange ways of using Dust in combat, as well as zero failures as a mercenary. Vale is lucky to have a man of your skills."

"And you, Ms. Belladonna. Despite having only recently becoming Mr. Yagami's partner, your skill is nothing to mock. Can I expect that you'll be entering Beacon?"

"Yes sir," she replied. "The test is on the 20th, correct?"

"Indeed. I wish you luck, though I doubt you will need it. By the way, from what I understand, you used to disguise your ears with a bow. What has happened to convince you otherwise?"

Blake jerked a thumb at Kazuma, her face not changing from her usual stoic mask in the slightest.

"I didn't like it," was all Kazuma said.

"Why? Is it not her choice whether or not to hide her heritage as a Faunus?"

"She's a stray cat," he said, earning him a heated glare from Blake. "She's staying in my home, and eating food earned with the money from jobs I secure for us. Even if she does a large amount of the work, no one would hire her if she weren't with me, due to both age and species. As a result, my word is law. She was being dishonest with herself, and it she looks better without the ribbon. So I don't allow her to wear it in my presence."

"Interesting," Ozpin shot back, "but why do you have the right to impose such a personal restriction on her?"

"The weak bend to the will of the strong. Relatively, she's weaker than me, so she won't go too far against my wishes. I remember a certain stubborn girl who didn't understand that concept, because she had rarely met anyone stronger than her. As a result, she was constantly hurt and in need of my help. If I had been a worse person, she would have died the moment she crossed me."

"The strong, in turn, have a responsibility to protect the weak from others who would seek to harm them. I acquired power so I could protect everything within my sight. So that I would never have to sacrifice anything again. Those who use their strength for personal gain only are lower than Grimm."

"Do you not use your power in such a manner, Mr. Yagami?" Ozpin asked.

It was Blake, however, who answered. "He does use his power for his own gain, it's true. But he also protects people. He protects me. On our latest mission, when we encountered a pack of Grimm so large it posed a risk to me, he eliminated it completely. If there is a risk that someone will die, Kazuma will eliminate the threat in whatever way he sees fit."

Blake's answer was firm and definite. Ozpin had been silenced by the certainty in her voice, and Glynda appeared shocked. For the first time since arriving, the blonde haired woman decided to speak:

"How large of a pack did you encounter?"

"Over fifty, mostly Beowolves and a few Uras."

The number astounded Glynda. Sure, some huntsmen had been known to take on such numbers alone, but usually returned with abundant wounds.

"Mr. Yagami, where did you get that kind of strength? You have almost no records until half a year ago, and there is no indication that you have ever attended one of the academies, despite being of an age to have recently graduated."

Two pairs of eyes narrowed. Blake's because she had never heard about this. It was true that Kazuma's past was an enigma to her, but she figured that was because he just didn't care to talk about it much. Ozpin, on the other hand, was curious as to what kind of cover story he would create. This young man didn't add up. If Ozpin's sources were correct, the younger man's Semblance must be Aerokinesis or some variation of it. Yet no form of Aerokinesis had ever shown the kind of power needed to kill several dozen Grimm at once.

The reply came not even a second later: "I came from another world."

Silence. The room was in utter silence. The sound of Kazuma drinking his wine carried to everyone's ears. By the time his glass was returned to a coaster, Glynda managed to gather her wits.

"Such a blatant lie! How can you dare to disrespect us with such an answer?"

As soon as her statement was finished, everyone's eyes went wide as a massive weight settled on the room. Kazuma's glare at the woman could have frozen the sun. "How can YOU disrespect your host by calling him a liar to his face? You are in MY home, Ms. Goodwitch, and you would do well to remember that." Every line was delivered in an impossibly icy tone, like the biting winds of a winter storm that stole all the heat from the body. Once his speech was complete, the pressure in the room was lifted. Much more lightly, he added, "The curry's getting cold. Since we're on the topic of disrespect, I suggest you not do the same to Neko-chan's cooking."

Ozpin, once he was able to able to speak again, got curious. "Neko-chan? I don't believe I am familiar with that language."

"That's because the language is dead," Blake responded with another glare at Kazuma.

"It isn't to me. In fact, everyone spoke it in my home country. It means "Kitty," by the way."

Goodwitch gazed incredulously between Ozpin and Blake. "How can you two be so calm?"

Blake shrugged, used to Kazuma's way of intimidating people. In fact, what she had felt on the day of their meeting made that little display seem like nothing more than an annoyingly chilly day by comparison. Ozpin didn't offer an explanation, either. He actually felt that Glynda had been out of line on that occasion.

"So, Professors," Kazuma began, "I don't believe you've gotten to the point of this visit. No way would the Headmaster of Beacon, however eccentric, could randomly stop by for dinner at the home of a random mercenary."

"True, I'll just cut to the chase. I would like to offer you a position at Beacon. All of our professors also serve as active huntsmen, so you will be able to continue work similar to what you do now."

"And what would I be teaching?"

"Advanced Dust and Aura manipulation. From what I hear, you have been developing new techniques in both fields. The class would be an elective for higher level students."

Kazuma wasn't surprised that Ozpin had heard about his experiments. Most of it had been focused on the use of Dust to draw and control spirits without the use of willpower or ki, but another topic he was looking at was the similarity of ki and Aura. They were, after all, both spiritual energies. Blake had been roped into several of his practices to see if his ki attacks and methods of Dust use were possible for an Aura user. While the effects weren't quite the same, he was beginning to understand the gap between them. Given some time and effort, he was sure that huntsmen and huntresses could harness Aura to act in almost the exact same ways as ki, but without the magic that was normally attached.

"I understand why you want me," Kazuma led with a grin, "but the question remains: why should I help you?"

Ozpin pulled out a small book and held it out toward Kazuma. "The terms and benefits listed here should be to your liking. You will see that alongside a rather large salary, free access to as much Dust as you would like - within reason - and full living accommodations, we are willing to provide testing materials and cover the costs for further research."

Kazuma read over the pages of the notebook for a few minutes before handing it back to Ozpin. "My responsibilities would just be teaching the class and serving as an active duty Huntsman, right?"

"That's correct. Do we have a deal?"

Kazuma didn't take long to consider. The terms were heavily in his benefit, alerting him to the fact that Ozpin had further plans than what were listed in that book. In the short time he'd observed the man, Ozpin had never once seemed slow or inattentive. On the other hand, Kazuma knew he could handle whatever Ozpin had cooked up for him. The monthly salary of 130,000 Lien didn't hurt either.

Kazuma extended a hand toward the older man. "Thank you for your business. I expect to get every Lien."

 **Tell me what you think. I honestly had a good amount of trouble with this chapter, due to both coursework and the fact that it is very heavy as far as information and thoughts go. Tell me if anything seems wrong or if you disagree with something. No flaming, obviously, but if you think someone acted very weirdly or just want to bring up a point, don't hesitate.**


	4. Chapter 4: Exploration and Discoveries

**Once again, thanks to people who noticed my typo last chapter. I re-uploaded it with the change (I believe I did). Now, reviews!**

 **xbox432: I actually have an interesting plan for Jaune. You'll have to wait and see on that.**

 **ThePizziaMan: Your fear for the students is justified. Also, it is NEVER too early to start shipping; it can only be too late.**

 **YuukiAsuna-Chan: Glad you're taking an interest in the character relations. It's a little tedious setting things up and introducing characters, but there is always gold to be found there.**

 **Eurigos: If he takes the school's entire budget at once, they won't stay afloat! Remember, his monthly salary is $13,000. That's well over what a professor makes IRL.**

 **Thanks again for everyone's support! Some guests made good reviews too, but since I can't match them to a name, I didn't include them. Sorry guys, and I do appreciate you! With everything else out of the way, here we go:**

Ozpin thanked Oum that the Council had agreed to grant him that additional funding. "Very good, I'm glad we could come to an agreement." He looked to the side to meet Glynda's wary eyes. "Come along. We should return before our paperwork gains a mind of it's own."

Kazuma saw the pair out of the apartment, though Glynda seemed to be trying to put a hole in his head with that glare of hers. He returned to the living room to find the dishes cleared and the chairs put away. Blake was sitting on the couch, reading one of the books she had bought on their last shopping trip. He sat down beside her, and a few tense minutes passed.

"Was that smart? You know he's got an agenda." She asked.

"I know. I also know that if I don't like whatever he asks me to do, he can't possibly force me to. A free place to live, free food, and a salary much bigger than what I make from mercenary work. I'm not gonna turn that down just because there's some danger involved."

He had been expecting the next question for a while now: "Are you really from a different world?"

"Yup."

Blake closed her book and looked directly at her partner for the past few weeks. "You sound crazy, but for some reason I believe you. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

She was met with a familiar shrug of dismissal. "It never seemed important. I didn't hide it or anything."

Blake didn't even dignify that with a response. There was no making sense of this man, so she wasn't even going to try. Instead, she decided to dig a little deeper. "Is that why your energy and techniques are so different?"

"Yeah. On Earth, people don't have Aura. Instead, we use a power born of our willpower called ki. Using ki, we called upon the spirits of nature to help us. We called it magic. Of course, there weren't many practitioners when compared to the number of Huntsmen on Remnant."

"Warriors called themselves practitioners?"

"Well, we had many names. Practitioners, mages, exorcists, and jutsu-shi were just a few. We kept ourselves secret from most of the world. We didn't fight as one unit; instead, different families and organizations took assignments in different parts of the world, sometimes cooperating and sometimes competing."

"What was it like? I'm having a hard time imagining it."

Kazuma paused, a look of reflection on his face. He didn't see any reason to hide his past from the Faunus girl he'd been working with. She was cautious, and could keep secrets as well as anyone else. "Grimm weren't a threat to our world. We had evil spirits of many different kinds, and that was the main enemy. Sometimes, we were hired by to be bodyguards or assassins. Generally, magical power stayed within family lines. I was born into the main branch of the Kannagi family, a famous line of Enjustu-shi."

Calling forth her limited knowledge of Japanese, something about that last sentence seemed out of place. "Enjutsu is fire magic, right? You were born into that family, but you use wind."

She could instantly see she had hit a sore spot. He wasn't angry with her, but became a bit more somber than before. Distractedly, he lit a cigarette and took a long drag. "Right. I didn't have the talent. I was kicked out, and eventually discovered my potential for Fuujutsu."

"Oh. . . sorry."

"Don't be. I've moved on from it. Was there anything else? I'm in a good mood, so I might play along a bit longer."

There were dozens of questions she wanted to ask, mostly personal ones. Not wanting to press her luck, she decided to ask something else. "What about Dust? Considering your interest in it, I'm guessing that didn't exist in your world, either."

She received a nod in reply. "That's right. Dust lures the spirits, and activating Dust using Aura is like a very primitive version of our magic."

"So that's why you mutter to yourself when you use Dust. You're talking to the spirits."

There was no reply as she stared at the man seated beside her. He was both the most powerful person she had ever met and the strangest. There were so many more things to be said, but she was content to have him reveal things as he saw fit. She had done things in her life that she wasn't proud of, including violence and robbery. The man beside her could be hiding so much more.

A few more minutes went by as they mulled over their thoughts. It was Kazuma who broke the silence this time. "Well, if that's all, I think I'll be going to bed. We've got to go shopping again tomorrow, but otherwise we're free for the day. And that entrance exam is in nine days, right?"

"That's right. What day do you have to report to Beacon?"

"Two days before that. Since I'll be set up in the faculty housing after that, the place will be yours till October. Remember to leave it in good condition, or else the landlord will give me hell."

With that, the future professor walked down the hall and into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. After another half hour of reading, Blake followed his example and retired to her room as well.

* * *

Neither of the apartment's tenants were eager to rise that morning, content to sleep in until eleven. After a light breakfast of fruit and toast, the pair went out for some shopping. Of course, shopping with Blake wasn't exactly the easiest for Kazuma. Not because she was excessive or loved to look at things she couldn't have; she wasn't like some the girls he'd met, the ones who needed to browse everything in a store just to decide what top to buy.

No, Blake just fixated on certain things. First they had to buy books. Since Kazuma was the one with the money, he was forced to come along for this part rather than just doing the grocery and clothes shopping that needed to be done. She girl spent an hour looking for certain books, going from one store to another just to find them. The whole time Kazuma humored her, since he wasn't on any kind of schedule. He was content to let her have her fun while he read a book he found in the first store.

The book was about a man who was blessed by fire itself, and his many adventures. He purified evil spirits around the world, took on rival clans, and fell in love. It wasn't a long book, and he was just skimming through it while Blake explored, so he got to the end rather quickly. The epilogue detailed the man's descendants, who were also granted the blessing of fire, though none of them lived up to the power of their ancestor. It was at this point that Kazuma got a strange sense of deja vu. He had no idea where he'd heard this story before, but he felt as if he already knew it. Before he could delve into his memories for an answer, Blake made it known that she was finished. He shrugged and set the problem away for later.

The grocery shopping went by much faster, though Kazuma had to drag Blake away from the tuna every time they passed that isle of the store. Seriously, even if she was a cat, did she really have that much of an addiction to the stuff? He picked up enough for a week, and made a mental note to leave some money for Blake to buy food during the time she would be in the apartment without him. If she spent it all on books or tuna instead of good food, it was her fault.

Clothes shopping actually took the least amount of time. Kazuma's clothes were pretty standard and he wasn't very picky. Blake was a little slower, but she knew what she wanted and had visited the store on several occasions to pick up her ribbons (though they were in shreds now) and copies of her current outfit. It seemed common on Remnant for girls to have several similar outfits, and while Kazuma couldn't complain since he did the same thing for his clothes, there weren't many girls in his world that would be content with that. Of course, it may just be that most of the girls he had met on Remnant were Huntresses, who weren't as picky about clothes that could get torn to pieces anyway.

Now, for most people it would be difficult to carry a week's worth of groceries, almost two dozen books, and some new clothes all at once. Fortunately, Kazuma was very liberal in the use of his abilities, and simply carried the bags along on the wind. After getting home, Kazuma took a nap while Blake cracked open one of her new books. It was the days like this that she enjoyed. No fighting, no stealing, and nobody discriminating against her because she was a Faunus. People still glared, of course, but with Kazuma around she wouldn't be outright insulted or banned from shops. For the first time since her childhood, life was good, with nothing to majorly spoil it.

That night wasn't very exciting, either. Dinner was made and eaten. Kazuma watched TV while Blake read her book. After they had digested, Kazuma went to his experiments, enlisting Blake's assistance for some tests. As far as she could tell, it Kazuma was making progress. The way he used ki was similar to Aura manipulation, but he wasn't able to use it as a shield. By channeling it through his body he was able to replicate the wound healing ability that Aura produced. He wasn't having very much luck with the opposite, however.

The differences between ki and Aura seemed miniscule, but they were there. Aura came from the soul, whereas ki was a construct of the user's will. The user's mind and disciple were the key factors. Logically, it should be possible for anyone to use ki. But just like Blake had failed to unlock Kazuma's Aura, he'd been completely unable to teach her how to use ki. She naturally defaulted to her Aura without realizing it.

After finishing their practice, the two slept. Their days were fairly uneventful for the next week besides a pair of Grimm extermination requests, but even those went as planned. Get in, kill the things, get paid. So Kazuma's departure for Beacon was a welcome break in routine.

* * *

Kazuma landed at Beacon with no greeting, which wasn't surprising considering he wasn't due for another two hours. Wanting to do some recon and get the layout of the place, though, he came to the school on his own power. It hadn't taken more than ten minutes to fly over the residential district of Vale and into Beacon's impressive campus. He'd also cloaked himself by refracting the air around him. After all, what good was it to see what everyone was like when they were aware of his presence? So he went from one classroom to the next to see the preparation the other teachers were making for their incoming classes.

Professor Port, a large man with a mustache and a very large gut, was sleeping in his chair. By the abundance of paperwork on his desk, it was clear that the man had passed out while working. Kazuma noticed that under the man's desk was a mysterious switch labeled "Edgar." What that was about, the mage had no idea, but filed away in his mind anyway. Having information about your associates couldn't hurt. Oobleck, a tall man with a shock of green hair and glasses, was quite the opposite scene. He was running around his room gathering equipment: maps, several bags of coffee beans, a thermos, textbooks, and most amazingly, several small dogs. What purpose they served and how they were treated, Kazuma didn't even want to know. All the while he had a coffee mug in one hand. The coffee here must've been amazing, since Ozpin did pretty much the same thing, just without the lightning speed Oobleck displayed.

The classroom labeled "Professor Peach" was empty, leading Kazuma to assume that she either hadn't come in yet or was running errands elsewhere. As such, he continued to get a feel for the campus by traveling through the student and staff dorms, the ballroom, the sparring arenas, and any other place of note. After about an hour and a half had passed, he had the entire school memorized well enough to fly around it blindfolded.

Now it was time to make himself known. Returning to Port's room, Kazuma was amused to find the man adding a few touches to the place. Currently, he was hanging up a weapon which was a cross between a greataxe and a blunderbuss. When he heard a knock on the door, the mustachioed man jumped and turned around fully, displaying quite a bit of speed for someone so large.

"Hello, are you Peter Port? I'm Kazuma Yagami."

The tension in Port's body evaporated as he stood up a little straighter. "Ah, Headmaster Ozpin told me about you. Didn't expect you to be quite so young!" The man put out a hand, which Kazuma took. Port put far more strength into it than necessary, and was surprised when Kazuma responded by almost breaking his hand. "That's the spirit! I'm sure you'll be an interesting addition to our staff, Mr. Yagami."

"Just Kazuma, if you'd like. I'm not typically one for titles."

"Ah, a man of action like myself, I see. I have a feeling we'll get along beautifully!"

Slightly irritated by the man's overly chipper attitude, he took the first chance he had to excuse himself and introduced himself to Oobleck. While hyper, he was actually pretty easy to talk to. The two exchanged greetings and discussed the coming students for a few minutes before the doctor went back to his work. Kazuma had learned the hard way that his new coworker got annoyed if his proper title was not used.

At last, it was time to talk to Ozpin, who should be getting ready to come meet him. So Kazuma decided to just wait for the headmaster at the front gate as the two had agreed. It didn't take long for Ozpin to arrive.

"Ah, Mr. Yagami. I hope you found your way easily."

"I did. In fact, I arrived a while ago. Talked to Port and Oobleck."

"Really now? You should have let me know you were here."

"I wanted to get to know my colleagues. Anyway, could you show me to my classroom? I'm sure there's preparation and paperwork to take care of."

"Indeed there is, Yagami. But before that, I have another proposition for you."

The younger man cocked an eyebrow. "Alright, lay it on me."

"As you must be aware, the entrance exam into Beacon is in two days' time. Currently, only Port, Oobleck, Peach, Glynda, and myself are at the school. Since we are the ones who mainly deal with administration or first-year students, we've had more work set upon us than we can handle. As such, I'd like you to proctor the exams alongside me. What do you say?"

"I'd say it's not in my contract, sir."

This time Ozpin's eyebrows moved, but in the opposite direction. "So you're saying you won't do it?"

"Sir, I'm going to have my own stack of paperwork sitting in my office when we get there. What makes you think I'll be any less busy than the other instructors? Of course, if I had a reason to proctor the exams rather than do those preparation, I may consider it."

"Yagami. . . are you actually extorting money from your headmaster?"

"Would there be a problem with that? After all, I have no obligation to do anything other than teach my class and take work as a Huntsman when needed."

The headmaster in question sighed at his employee's clear disregard for authority, and his love for money. If he wasn't careful, Ozpin knew the school's bank account would be significantly lower in the near future.

"How much, Mr. Yagami, would it take to convince you?"

"Hmm. . . I'm thinking 10,000 Lien would motivate me."

"You can't expect me to pay you that much," Ozpin deadpanned.

"You tell me. Is it worth that much to you?"

Considering his options. . . he didn't have any other options. There was, of course, a reason he had chosen Kazuma besides the workload. Ozpin wanted to know what Kazuma thought of the incoming freshmen, and get to know more about how Kazuma thought in general. His new addition was an enigma. A master of wind, never having failed a single assignment, and he claimed to be from another world. At best, Kazuma could be the ultimate weapon against Grimm. At worst, he could become a worse threat the 'The Queen' that Qrow had been informing him about. Either way, knowing more about the young man was a necessity.

"I'll pay 5,000. No more."

Kazuma pursed his lips and stared at the gray-haired man. "Only because I like you."

The two shook hands once again, one with considerably more joy about the exchange than the other.

 **Obviously, this chapter was very "slice of life" in order to show off Kazuma and Blake's everyday lives, if only briefly, and to introduce the other teachers to Kazuma. Didn't want to spend too much time on that, but it did have to be done. Also, before anyone asks, this is not a confirmation of KazumaxBlake. Not saying what will happen with the pairing, as it isn't yet set in stone. Feel free to make suggestion either via review or PM, but please don't spam me, and don't be upset if I go with a different pairing in the end.**

 **I'm also working on a second story. It WILL NOT slow down production on this one, since this is my primary project. The second one won't even be published for a few more weeks, most likely. It's just something I write when I have no inspiration for this one. As before, feel free to critique this chapter and to speak your minds about it via review.**


	5. Chapter 5: Preparation and First Day

**Sorry that I haven't posted pretty much all week. Been really busy with course work and was just not in a writing mood. But here it is, and there will be a little bonus at the end for bearing with me. Reviews:**

 **xbox432: Thanks for all the support dude! The reason you don't remember Peach is because she's only ever mentioned once and then never shown. As such, unless she makes an appearance, I will be doing the same.**

 **ThePizziaMan: Kazuma and Weiss will have some interesting interactions, what with the resemblance Weiss has to Ayano in terms of personality. You'll get a tiny bit of that here, and stay tuned for more.**

 **GJO1088: Thanks for telling me about Stigma of the Void. Read it in my spare time, and it really is a shame that it was abandoned. If it hasn't been adopted by anyone else, I may pick it up at some point in the future, but no promises. Also, never get discouraged from writing. I know I have my share of unpublished stories that just didn't go anywhere. In fact, this is the second run of this idea. The other one never made it passed Chapter 2 lol.**

 **YukkiAsuna-Chan: No, absolutely no one else will get magic. Even in Kazuma's universe, the untalented could not learn magic unless they were possessed. A few may, however, learn to use ki and some basic talisman seals the way Kirika could since that was a more generalized art. As for Jaune, I do not plan to make it an obsession, but he will have a little side plot type of thing.**

 **Taromaru: I actually haven't decided if he should have the Wind Spear yet. My original intention was to have his insertion point be before that, but re-reading the light novels has made me think of changing that, just maybe. I'll see how I want to develop him and go from there, since I haven't yet set in stone when he came to Remnant.**

 **Azariah Kyras: Thanks for the criticism. Part of my reason for writing this piece is to develop my style further. You'll see that this piece plays around with limiting the perspective a little more. Still not a third-person limited, but more like it than omniscient. As for Blake, she's just supposed to be more open with Kazuma around. I feel that his snarky but protective attitude would have that kind of effect on her. I probably should have shown them arguing in the beginning to develop that but didn't feel like doing TOO much non-cannon focused stuff.**

 **thenotes146: Thanks for the good words. If you liked the anime, I suggest you hop over to and read the light novel.**

 **WILLIAM11: Thanks for reading, I hope you continue to enjoy my work.**

 **Shout out to all my readers and to the two guest reviewers. Sorry that Senpai isn't replying to you, but I do hope you continue with the support. Here we go!**

The entrance exams were, in a word, boring. Ozpin promised that the initiation test would be much more exciting, but that didn't curb the annoyance Kazuma felt right now. Basically, applicants to the school could enter in one of two ways: either have exceptional transcripts from a previous combat school or pass this exam. The test was divided into a written section, a gauntlet of physical measurements such as speed and strength, and a spar with Glynda. Since most students didn't make perfect enough marks to enter without this, Kazuma was able to see almost every student that was going to be in the freshman class, and quite a few who didn't make it.

For the most part he was just marking down marks for the written exam and the physicals from behind a wall of mirrored glass, but he did take special note of a few students. Blake, of course, had to attend since she hadn't gone to any combat school. There was also a pair of students, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, that got his attention. Mostly because the latter, a short ginger girl with an admittedly nice figure and a love for pink, almost broke every machine for the measurements portion. The former was the only reason those machines stayed in one piece, and scored perfect marks on the written portion of the exam. He was slender in the same way Kazuma himself was

Kazuma also recognized Yang, the blonde brawler he'd beaten and thrown out of Junior's club. As expected, she had very high physical marks but was a little low on the written part. The final, and probably least expected person to catch his eye, was Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Like Ren, she passed the knowledge test with ease, and also managed to land a solid hit on Glynda during the spar. It was a lucky shot, but still. Glynda wasn't fooling around during those spars, and with Glynda's Semblance even one good shot was impressive for girl of that age.

There wasn't much else to be done until the students came, honestly. Seeing the new students was all well and good, but the they didn't start attendance until the first day of October. So for the next week and a half, Kazuma went about the same tasks as the other professors: paperwork and preparation. Since his class was focused around Dust manipulation, he thought it prudent to have large stores of the stuff accessible. There were four large vats of powdered Dust in the corner up front, and many cases of crystals adorned much of the room's floor space. Ozpin had promised all the Dust he could use, after all.

Of course, he didn't want just anyone to be able to take his Dust without his permission, so in addition to locking the containers he secured them with barriers. They were very basic ones set up with talisman seals, but they would do the job. After all, it wasn't like anybody would even know what they were dealing with. If he ever went back to his world, he'd have to thank Kirika for teaching him how to use them. . . and for a few other things.

When the students finally did arrive, Kazuma was lucky enough to have a front row seat. As the Bullheads carrying incoming freshmen touched down, Kazuma was hovering a few yards above the ground, cloaked and ready to spy on the antics of the new students. Information gathering was embedded into his ideology, and he was not about to miss any chances for blackmail material.

His waiting was rewarded when he got a front-seat view of a girl he recognized - Ruby Rose, if memory served - bumping into the luggage of the Schnee heiress. The ensuing lecture gave Kazuma a good idea of what the two girls were like, since he hadn't had much interaction with either. Ruby proved to be much more cheerful and timid than her sister, who would have probably resorted to punching the shit out of Weiss within the first fifteen seconds. Ruby did show a little bit of a temper toward the end, implying that Yang had rubbed off on her sister.

Weiss was, in a word, a bitch. She was excessively angry, ignored the fact that she was the one improperly handling the Dust, and got even more angry when Ruby sneezed, blowing them both up. Even Kazuma felt slightly bad about Ruby's situation. . . not that it would stop him from calling her "Crater Face" anytime soon. Still, he decided to take pity on the poor girl and help out.

Descending behind Weiss and removing his invisibility so Ruby could see him but the princess remained blissfully unaware, he tapped the yelling girl on the shoulder. Fuming, she turned around and saw the young professor, though she had no idea about his title and instantly started berated him.

"And who are you? Can't you see I'm in the middle of something right now?"

"Oh yes, very busy. All that whining at a girl two years younger than you must take so much energy," Kazuma quipped.

"Excuse me? Who are you to interfere with my problems?"

"Just the person grading you sometime during the next four years. Nobody all that important, I guess."

"Exactly! At least you understand you place. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to. . ." There was a long pause as the first part of Kazuma's comeback registered in her mind. After a moment spent with her mouth hanging open she recovered. "Wait, you mean to say that you're a professor here?"

Her late realization caused Kazuma to smirk, but he quickly masked his amusement under a look of disapproval. "You could say that. You could also say that I don't appreciate misuse of Dust and yelling at a younger student." Now for the final nail in the coffin: "I suggest you apologize to Miss Rose and be on your way."

Complete and total shutdown. It honestly looked like the girl was rebooting. Her face had gone slack and expressionless, and her spine must have been perfectly vertical. Ruby got concerned/curious and poked the heiress in the cheek, which had Kazuma laughing on the inside. If it wasn't for the act he was putting up at the moment he would have done it on the outside as well.

A few moments later, the icy girl finally comprehended what she had been asked to do. "Apologize? Apologize?! Why would I have to apologize to this ignorant, graceless, stupid little girl?"

"Because you endangered not only her life, but also the lives of those in the area, myself included. Thankfully this part of the courtyard was almost vacant. So unless you want me to write a request for your expulsion to Ozpin on the grounds of reckless endangerment of students via careless handling of Dust, I suggest you do as I say and keep my opinion of you from dropping any lower." Kazuma didn't often have the opportunity to pull rank on people as a mercenary, but now he knew why it happened so often in the military and education: it was so fun watching this girl squirm.

With visible reluctance and barely contained rage, Weiss turned back to the red-hooded girl. "I'm sorry I yelled at you and that I was waving Dust."

Kazuma nodded and decided he's antagonized the girl enough for one day. "Good. Now gather up your belongings and head to the assembly hall. The opening speech will be in 30 minutes."

The heiress gladly took her leave. Kazuma watched as she left, and passing by her was the familiar face of Blake, though something was different from usual. Ah well, he'd figure it out later.

"T-thanks for the help, Professor." Kazuma looked over to see Ruby in a slight bow.

"Ah, no problem. Didn't like her much anyway. How's your sister been since I kicked her ass?"

Ruby brought her head up and looked Kazuma straight in the eye, searching his face. "Ah! You're the bouncer that threw Yang out of Junior's! Why are you teaching at Beacon?"

"I wasn't a bouncer, just a customer. Ozpin looked me up and offered me a job." Feeling the familiar urge of a nicotine craving, he pulled out a smoke and lit it with a match. He really needed one of those Dust lighters he's seen in stores, now that he had as much Fire Dust as he could use.

"Oh. Yang's fine. Still a bit pissed off that you beat her, though. Says you must have cheated and wants a rematch."

Kazuma let out a small chuckle. "How did I cheat in a bar brawl? Anything goes. Tell her I'm willing to fight whenever if she pays me enough. Also that I won't hold back as much next time."

"Alright." They were both silent for a few seconds. "So, uh, what class are you teaching?"

"Advanced Dust and Aura Manipulation. It's an elective, and I think all years are free to take it even though it's a higher level course."

"Cool. Does your fighting style involve a lot of Dust manipulation?"

Instead of answering, Kazuma took a long drag of his cigarette and blew out toward the girl. Before it reached her face, however, he commanded the wind to sculpt the smoke into a small bullet and sent it whizzing past her ears.

"I mostly use my Semblance, though I enhance it with Dust occasionally."

"What kind of Semblance is it? I've never heard of someone using cigarettes to fight."

"That's because I don't. It's Aerokinesis."

Ruby was just looking even more confused. "But I didn't see any arrows!"

Kazuma had to resist the immediate urge to facepalm by reminding himself that she was only fifteen. "Aerokinesis means 'Air manipulation,' kid. I just used the smoke so it was easier to see."

"Oh, that makes sense. Air's cool." Her face matched her cloak at the moment.

"By the way, Ruby. You don't have many friends, do you?"

"W-w-what makes you say that? Of course I do! I have tons of people to hang out with."

"Then why are you here trying to strike up conversation with a professor when you could be with them? Or heading to the auditorium for the intro speech?"

"Well, I, uh. . . Ok, I don't know anyone. Happy?"

"Nope. I understand what it's like to be in a foreign environment with no allies. Though usually there are people shooting at me. So, I suggest you find some by heading over to the auditorium."

"Um, Professor?" she asked sheepishly.

"Yes?"

"Let's say I didn't know where that is. . . what would I do in that situation?"

She earned a light glare for that one. Sighing, Kazuma dropped his cigarette and stomped it out on the cement. "I'll take you since I have to go there anyway. Don't wander off or I'll leave you behind."

With that Kazuma began strolling away toward the center of the academy with Ruby in tow.

When they reached the doors, Ruby rushed ahead and opened up the doors before turning around to thank her guide, but he was nowhere in sight. She made a mental note to thank him later as she headed toward her sister.

* * *

"Huh, so that's who he was. Good to know he remembered me and that he's up for a rematch. So you actually blew up?" Yang was surprised to find that the man who had beat her at Junior's was actually a professor at Beacon. Made getting her rematch a lot easier.

"Look, I really don't want to remember it anymore. Let's just listen to Ozpin and forget about it."

"Alright, alright. We don't need you _exploding_ on us."

The blonde's pun earned a loud groan from her sister just before Ozpin took the stage, sipping from his signature mug of coffee. The headmaster cleared his throat to gain the crowd's attention.

"I'll. . . keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you finish, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Ruby and Yang looked at each other in confusion. This seemed rather dark for their first day at Beacon.

"Furthermore, you will have a new guide on your journey. I'd like to introduce to you all Professor Kazuma Yagami."

Both sisters smiled as Kazuma took the stage. Yang's was feral, brimming with desire for a rematch, while Ruby's was small and satisfied. She liked the new teacher, even if he had a bit of a sharp tongue.

Kazuma's posture and face made no attempt to hide his absolute disinterest as he approached the mic. "Well, like he said my name's Kazuma Yagami. Feel free to call me Kazuma, Professor Yagami, whatever. I'll be teaching a new class called Advanced Dust and Aura Manipulation. While intended for higher-level students, anyone is welcome to sign up after your initiation tomorrow. If you use Dust or Aura as the base of your style, it's highly recommended that you take it at some point at least. That's it, I guess."

This was followed by a short statement from Glynda, who glared at her new coworker for his casual speech for most of it. He just shrugged the look off and pulled out a cigarette. He apparently didn't care that there was a policy against it in the buildings. Then again, he was constantly purifying the air using his magic so it wasn't doing any harm. After the students dispersed he headed out to make some last minute preparations for tomorrow. He was being asked to run security to make sure no students got hurt beyond recovery, and being the good natured person he was he had accepted the task. Along with another 10,000 Lien.

 **So, let me know what you think. Also, I could use some more appropriate cover art if there are any artistic readers. It's just my profile pic atm because I don't want to accidentally use any copyrighted images without permission. Now for the treat I mentioned: Remember how I said I was writing another story on the side? Well, the first chapter is ready to go up tonight. It's an OC story in the RWBYverse, but there's one issue. It needs a name, and I'd like to hear what you guys have to say. The OC identifies with the Grimm, and his color scheme is white and black. His name is Shiroi Akujin, meaning "White Demon." Use all this info and give me the perfect story name, alright? Will also want a cover image for that story, but that should wait until after you guys have a description of his appearance. It will go up as soon as I choose a title.**


	6. Chapter 6: Initiation Day

**Another chapter for you guys! I'll hopefully get another one up by Friday night but no promises. Also, check out my new story. Since I didn't get any naming ideas from you guys I just went with something off the top of my head but its still good stuff. Reviews:**

 **YuukiAsuna-Chan: Always glad to see you around, and I'm happy to see you thinking about these things.**

 **thenotes: Good! Hope I can continue to please.**

 **Lord Asmodeus: Kazuma is by no means a shounen hero, you are quite right, and he will not be in this story. He is, and always will be, an asshole, and despite being a generally good person he is selfish and follows his own code. As for killing, just wait. It will be a few chapters in coming but it will be there.**

 **RiDDick0011: Class will be where Kazuma's interaction with the students will shine, Blake included. Should get to that within the next two chapters.**

 **xbox432: Thanks for all your thoughts and support. And like Yukki up above, glad to see people are thinking about the little things.**

 **proverbsrus: Cool, another follower. That would have been a good line, true.**

 **GJO1088: Like I said, I may pick it up, but that would only be if I find myself with an absurd amount of time on my hands. Next semester, possibly, but no promises. I haven't really decided what to do with Winter simply because it's fairly far in the future and I like these to have a life of their own, instead of planning it all out too far in advance. Still, that does sound like something Kazuma would do.**

 **Like I said, plugging my new story, so after you finish this chapter I suggest you go check it out. Posting a second chapter of it right after this one. Hope you enjoy them both!**

After a night of "bonding" in the ballroom, all the students were lined up on the side of a cliff next to the Emerald Forest. Standing next to all of them were three adults: Kazuma, Ozpin, and Glynda. Ozpin began explaining the details of the initiation test to the new students, which was basically made to crush the hopes and dreams of the young men and women who hoped that Beacon would be easy or fair in any way.

Collecting an unidentified relic somewhere within miles of dense woods? Not so bad. Fighting off waves of Grimm in the process? Ok, that's a little harder. Having to do it all with a random partner whom you might hate and have virtually no control over? There might be a problem. Of course, the test would only be mildly dangerous for these children. They were, after all, taught how to fight since they were twelve and have some of the most dangerous weapons known to man available to them. Just in case something unexpected happened, though, Kazuma was around to make sure nobody died.

While Ozpin was giving the students all the information they were going to need, Kazuma was sizing up the students. Juane, who Kazuma had not actually seen at the entrance exam, was at the end of the line. He was a scrawny looking blonde boy with clear blue eyes. He carried a sword on his hip but didn't look like he had any idea of how to use it. Kazuma knew plenty of kenjutsu users, and this boy was their opposite: weak-willed, unconfident, and off guard.

Next to him was Ruby, then Yang. The younger was looking at her sister with devastation, while the elder just shrugged. Apparently Yang had expected not to be partnered with Ruby, simply because that would have been too easy. After them was Cardin Winchester, whose acquaintance he had yet to make but had seen during the exam. He was pretty average with a weapon and barely used his Aura, which didn't make him fit for Beacon in Kazuma's mind, but he didn't make that call. Ren and Nora followed Cardin, then came Russel Thrush, who was in the same strength class as Cardin.

Pyrrha Nikos was next, and Kazuma's gaze lingered on her a bit. She was known as an incredibly talented fighter, and certainly looked the part. Tall, muscled, and well armed, but also very beautiful. Seriously, what was with good-looking girls at this academy? Kazuma wasn't one to give out compliments, but even he had to admit some of them were supermodel material. He was getting off track, though. Pyrrha had an Amazonian look to her, and carried a mechanical spear and a shield. Rumor had it that she was undefeated in battle, so Kauzma was interested to see her fight.

After her came Weiss, who looked just as haughty and overconfident as ever. She seriously reminded him of Ayano when they had first met, but less aggressive and more bitchy. At least Ayano solved her problems head on rather than relying on her status. Blake was a few places down, looking composed as usual. There was still something off about her though, and he couldn't figure it out. She was pretty far away from him, so it could be some smaller detail that he couldn't really make out at this distance.

Everyone, Jaune excluded, got into a stance as Ozpin finished off his speech. Kazuma pushed off of the tree he had been leaning against since Ozpin had started talking and raised his Scroll. In addition to a bonus, he had bargained for the honor of being the one to send the students flying. He hit the button for the first person in the line, and the second person was sent a moment later. One by one Kazuma sent the students off the cliff in order until Yang had been sent flying. He saw Jaune's worried and confused expression as he asked Ozpin a series of dumb questions, and made a split-second decision. Ruby was confused when she saw the blonde body ragdoll into the air, out of order, moments before her own departure.

Once all of the students were gone, Kazuma walked up to Ozpin, who was smiling behind his coffee. Kazuma couldn't see it, but the headmaster's eyes gave his amusement away. Glynda, however, was less happy with the wind mage's stunt.

"Professore Kazuma," she started, "why did you take it into your own hands to change the order?"

The man in question just shrugged with a neutral smirk on his face. "Thought it would be fun. And it was."

Glynda gripped the bridge of her nose and audibly sighed. She obviously didn't approve of Kazuma, but there was nothing she could do, especially since she could see the smile on Ozpin's face from where she was standing.

"Please refrain from changing the procedures in the future. Now, you have a job to do, so how about you get to it?"

"Already am. If you check your Scroll, you'll see Mr. Arc stuck to a tree, Ms. Xiao Long running through the forest, and Ms. Schnee dragging Ms. Rose through the woods."

Glynda didn't even have to look to know he would be right. The man had a strange grasp of his surroundings at all times. He said it had to do with the spirits of the wind feeding him information, but Glynda still didn't have her head around the mechanics of his "magic" so she didn't quite understand what that meant.

"I still suggest you get closer so that you can respond to an emergency if need. It won't do any good to know where they are if you can't protect them."

Nodding, Kazuma floated a few feet above the ground before disappearing. Once Glynda guessed that he would be far enough away as to not hear them, she pleaded her case to Ozpin for what must have been the twelfth time since her first meeting with the new professor.

"Ozpin, sir, why did you choose a man like Kazuma to teach these children? He's impulsive, greedy, and uncaring. Is that really the type of role model you wish to present to young minds?"

"Now Glynda," he answered, "you know as well as I that Kazuma is a decent person at heart. Everything you've said is true, and there is much more that could be said to his detriment. However," Glynda, who had been about to interject, stopped herself when she heard her boss continuing. "Kazuma is by far the most mysterious man I've ever met. And if I were to guess, we've seen only a small fraction of his power. There are many factions likely to hire him to further their own ends. Wouldn't you rather have him on our side?"

And this was the point that Glynda had never been able to refute. She had felt the same sensation Ozpin had during that visit. Kazuma was a god among men, there was no doubt about it. Not only that, but he would side with whichever faction could buy his loyalty. Even now, if someone could give him more than Ozpin, there was little doubt that he would switch his allegiance.

"All the more reason to dispose of him completely. He's powerful, but not invincible."

"Glynda, you're no murderer, nor am I. We are Huntsmen; our goal is to protect the people. What harm is there in using young Kazuma as a means to that end?"

The conversation ended there, but unbeknownst to the headmaster and his assistant was the fact that the subject of their conversation had heard every word. Oh yes, he was far out of earshot, in fact he was currently watching Ruby and Weiss fail horribly in taking out a pack of Grimm. Weiss had actually set a small portion of the forest on fire, which was interesting. There was no escaping the senses of a wind mage when he wanted to know what was happening. The wind had been carrying all of Glynda's complaints directly to him, and he made a mental note to start checking his food for poison. It was one of the few ways to kill him without using enough firepower to atomize the surrounding area.

In other news, Yang had met up with Blake after slaughtering a pair of Ursai, and the Jaune-Pyrrha pair had entered a cave. He was curious about the contents of the cave as well so he sent out a probe, but unlike them he knew for a fact that the relics weren't in there. After about half a minute the probe returned, informing him that there was a quite old Deathstalker living in there. Sucked for those two.

* * *

"Think this is it?" The blonde asked her partner. All she got in return was a condescending look, as if that much was obvious. In Blake's defense, it was pretty damn obvious. As the pair walked down to the circular temple they had happened upon, Yang felt a chill go down her spine as a light gust of wind passed by her.

"Blake, do you feel like someone is watching us? It's the creepiest thing."

For her part, the ravenette just kept walking in silence. She had that feeling too, but unlike her partner she knew that it wasn't just her imagination. The air had a certain heaviness to it, and Blake had no doubt that Kazuma was watching everything. Whether it was out of any type of concern or just for his own amusement, she couldn't begin to fathom.

"Chess pieces?" Blake said. It was the first thing Yang heard her partner say since they found each other.

"Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here," Yang deduced.

"Well, I guess we should pick one."

* * *

Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha were walking toward the back of the cave they had found, Jaune holding a rather well-made torch to light their way.

"Jaune, I don't think this is it."

"Pyrrha, I made the torch. Do you think you could humor me for five more feet?" Right after he said that, Jaune was blown forward by a particularly mischievous gust of wind, causing the torch to fall into a puddle. Now in complete darkness, green eyes met blue.

"Do you feel that?" cam Pyrrha's voice.

"Soul-crushing regret?"

"No," she responded, "It feels. . . warm."

They saw an extremely faint light at the end of the tunnel and walked toward it. What they found was a glowing object about as large as a torso, put with a curved and pointed end. It was floating in midair and moving slightly, with the tip toward them.

"That's the relic!" Jaune cried, looking like an excited child. He went to grab it, but it hovered just out of reach. "Hey! Bad relic." He lunged again, and when that didn't work he jumped and caught hold of the end. He began to celebrate, but his joy was quickly replaced with fear as he was brought face-to-face with several, glowing red eyes.

* * *

Yang was staring at one of the chess pieces, a knight, intently. She scooped it up and called out to Blake. "How about a cute little pony?"

Rolling her eyes, Blake agreed and gave a polite smile. She actually liked Yang so far, she was a fun person to be around, though she could be a bit extreme.

They were going to leave the temple when a high-pitched scream rang out. "Some girl's in trouble!" Yang announced. "Blake, did you hear that?" Blake, however was looking toward the sky. There she could see Yang's sister, Ruby, falling from the the back of a Giant Nevermore. Something weird was about to happen, she just knew it.

* * *

Kazuma was having fun. He was getting paid to watch people get into absurd situations and struggle, so why wouldn't he enjoy it? It was better than any TV show he'd ever watched. The best part? He wouldn't have to lift a finger unless someone was in danger of dying. Right now, he was watching as one Ruby Rose fell from the sky. The girl had been hitching a ride on a Giant Nevermore for some reason. Seriously, who was dumb enough to do that? Anyway, she was about to hit the ground when another body slammed into her mid-air, sending her into a nearby tree.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked, causing Kazuma to facepalm. That much was obvious, thanks for being the straight man, Blake.

Her partner tried to respond, but only got as far as "I. . ." before the next event.

Next thing anyone knew, an Ursa - large, but not an Ursa Major - came crashing through the woods, knocking down several trees as it went. It was standing to its hind legs, but came crashing to the ground with a death rattle rather quickly as a pink explosion appeared on its back. Weird.

"Yeeehaaaa!" yelled Nora, who had apparently been riding the damn thing. Again, what kind of idiot came up with that?

"Aww, it's broken." she lamented. She then proceeded to hop up onto the Ursa's back and inspect it, probably to be sure it was dead. Ren made his way out from behind the creature, panting and clearly tired from keeping up with his energetic charge.

"Nora," he said between labored breaths, "please. . . don't ever do that again." Unfortunately, she was gone by the time he had finished saying that. Currently, she had grabbed a relic, a rook piece, and was balancing it on different parts of her body while singing. Kazuma found himself liking this girl more and more. She was just fun as hell to watch.

As Ren finally got control of Nora, Blake felt the need to comment again: "Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?"

"I. . ." was all Yang got out before she saw a familiar red-haired Amazon run out of the trees, a Deathstalker behind her.

Ruby, having recovered from her impact, jumped down and tried to have an emotional reunion with her sister. Tried, because Nora ruined it by jumping between them when they were trying to hug.

As Pyrrha ran toward them, Blake took the chance to make one more quip: "Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail."

At this point, Yang was just done. With everything and everyone. There was a literal explosion, and some flames, as she began to have a meltdown. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?"

Two seconds passed before Ruby pointed upward, toward the Nevermore she herself had jumped off of. Also to Weiss, who was dangling from the talon of said Nevermore. The two had a small conversation (which Kazuma noted should have been impossible from that distance) before Blake made her next brilliant observation.

"She's gonna fall."

"She'll be fine," Ruby countered.

"She's falling," Ren finished.

And indeed she was, Kauzma noted. And Jaune, being the idiot he was, tried to catch her, but forgot he was not exempt from the law of gravity. Now, Kazuma _could_ have cushioned their fall using a small amount of wind. He didn't, but he wanted it to be on record that he could have done it.

Within a few second Pyrrha had been thrown to the feet of the group by the oversized bug. "Great, the gang's all here, now we can die together!" Yang said with false cheer.

In response, Ruby tried to charge the Deathstalker in a daring attempt to wound the creature, and was instantly batted away like a fly. She was further humiliated when the Nevermore pinned her to the ground with a hail of feathers. And the icing on the cake was when she had to be saved by Weiss. A nice partnership was forged from that move, but Kazuma was there to see them make fools of themselves, not for the heartwarming moments.

After regrouping and deciding that trying to fight both Grimm head on was a bad move, they all retreated after grabbing the pieces they needed. Ruby and Jaune grabbed the golden knight and rook respectively, and booked it toward the canyon at the far end of the forest with Ruby in the lead. With the Nevermore circling overhead and the Deathstalker breaking free of its prison, the climax was coming, and Kazuma decided he really wanted some popcorn and a bottle of wine. Was he going to have to intervene, or would he just going to hang around and watch? Well, the only way to find out was to follow them and hope they didn't come close to dying.

 **This chapter was a lot of cannon with little Kazuma interaction, and while that is kinda disappointing, his thoughts make the whole thing a little more interesting to write, and hopefully to read. Next chapter will be the Deathstalker/Nevermore fight, and possibly Kazuma's first class. Depends on how in-depth I go with the description of the fight. I probably won't go too far since you've likely all seen it and know what happens, which is why I am as brief with some events as I am. Anywho, you know the drill: review, and look forward to future chapters.**


	7. Chapter 7: The First Class

**So, I've decided that I'd take a suggestion from garoorar and skip the Nevermore/Deathstalker fight. I have it very briefly summarized instead. It never gets less epic, but since there are no new combatants, it wouldn't make sense to put it in. The most I could do with it is sneak in some smartass remarks, but you might as well go watch the actual episode if you want to see the fight.**

 **Eurigos: Exactly. In no universe would Kazuma dare pass up some cruel amusement, and this is no exception.**

 **thenotes146: You're very welcome. Snark is just one of my many writing talents lol.**

 **raziel44: Eh, I could have changed the teams, but from the beginning I had wanted to work with the original team dynamics.**

 **Lord Asmodeus: I hope I live up the expectations and keep Kazuma his asshole self throughout. If I didn't I'd be ashamed of myself as an author. As for Huntsmen killing people, I highly doubt it happens often. They really aren't soldiers in the traditional sense. I just see Glynda as being cold enough to do it if she needed to.**

 **YuukiAsuna-Chan: Thanks, and glad I could make it enjoyable enough to read despite being largely rehash.**

 **xbox432: Yeah, I always saw Glynda as being one of the more ruthless characters. Not heartless, but willing to play dirty.**

 **GJO1088: Here's what you wanted to see, so enjoy. Much more to come.**

 **StayBlessed: There will likely be a pairing, but it will be slower that in other RWBY stories due to Kazuma being a teacher, and older, so he won't have as much time with the girls as other students would.**

 **Hey to my guests as well, and hope everyone enjoys as usual.**

Well that went to hell in a hand-basket pretty quickly. Kazuma had been watching the entire fight, and honestly he should have grabbed that popcorn. After all, it wasn't every day you saw a group of four kids take down a Deathstalker by ramming the stinger through the creature's own armor. It was even less often that that you saw a girl of fifteen run straight up a cliff and decapitate a Giant Nevermore. He still didn't respect the kids much, since he could have been done with both of the creatures in two minutes or less, but they at least showed some potential. Especially Ruby and her group of girls. She managed to put together a plan on the fly, whereas the rest of the team was able to understand and cooperate at a moment's notice. It was impressive.

He wasn't surprised when Team RWBY was formed, with Ruby herself as the leader. He was a little more interested in why Ozpin had made Jaune the leader of his group, but he didn't get paid enough to worry about it. All he knew was that he'd be seeing a lot of both teams. Turns out that Blake, Yang, and even Weiss had opted to take his class, and Ruby had decided that she should be with her team on this one. Team JNPR was in much the same situation, with Ren and Pyrrha both wanting to take his course. Of course, where Ren went so did Nora, and Jaune was too weak-willed to be apart from his team. The same argument could be made about Ruby, but Kazuma thought she was just prone to get lonely if the others weren't around, like a puppy.

The first day of classes wasn't actually that hurried for Kazuma. His class wasn't required so he only taught two sections of it, neither of which was completely full, and they were both later in the day. So Kazuma took the chance and slept in until eleven, got up, and took a nice long shower before grabbing some lunch in the dining hall.

By two in the afternoon he was sitting behind his desk, watching the last of his students trickle into the room. Team RWBY ran into the room just in time and took their seats, with Team JNPR trailing them by less than a second.

"Well, now that everyone's here, let's get started. For the upperclassmen that weren't at the freshman assembly, I'm Professor Kazuma Yagami. Call me whatever you want, I'm not really one for formalities." He scratched the back of his head, thinking about what to say next. He honestly wasn't much of a teacher, so he was making this all up on the fly. "Are there any questions before I move on to the class description and our first lesson?"

A hand slowly raised from the back of the room, and Kazuma locked eyes with the student, giving a small nod as the signal to speak. It was a long-haired brunette girl with a slim figure, but the more remarkable thing about her was the pair of bunny ears on top of her head.

When the girl spoke, a light accent permeated her words. "Y-yes. Um, I was wondering if you could show us your weapon?"

Kazuma furrowed his brow at the strange request. "Miss Scarlatina, correct? That's a very odd question. I'd expect it from Miss Rose," he ignored a shout of objection from the red-hooded girl, "but what is your interest?"

"W-well photography is my hobby, see?" she responded, a small box that was now revealed to be a camera in her hands. "I take a lot of pictures of weapons, and since I've gotten all of the other teacher's weapons on camera I'd like to get yours as well."

Her body language told the wind mage two things. First, that she wasn't lying, but secondly that she was not telling him something. He figured that it wouldn't hurt to tell her a half-truth.

"Sorry, but as you can see, my weapon isn't in the room. Besides, it isn't the kind of thing I would show off on a whim, and I don't really need it for battle unless I'm up against something insanely powerful." Kazuma wasn't lying, he just wouldn't mention the fact that he could bring it out at any time. After Xiaolei's recovery, she had been adamant about giving him that damn spear, and he was reluctant to admit that it was occasionally useful.

"Oh, alright. Sorry to bother you, Professor." Velvet said as she visibly deflated.

"It's fine. Now, if there's nothing else, let's begin. Well, what do you all know about Dust?" The first to raise a hand was, predictably, Weiss Schnee.

"Dust is a natural energy propellent found within the earth, which can be mined and refined to use in combat or power machines. There are a number of uses for it, but the most common is Dust ammo."

"Very good Miss Schnee, as expected." The white-themed heiress preened in response to the praise, before Kazuma decided to bring her down with his next question: "Now, how does it actually work?"

"I. . .I'm afraid I don't understand the question, sir," she stated, obviously very confused.

"What I mean is that everything acts within certain physical laws. Dust, however, overturns these laws. It can summon flames from nowhere, create arcs of electricity, or form a tornado. Hell, it can even alter the laws governing force and gravity. This begs the question that far too few people ask: How does it do all of this?"

The students were looking to each other in an attempt to answer the question he had posed, but nobody had any idea. This world didn't have people with spiritual awareness, so far as he knew, and as such there was no link to Dust and spirits. He was the only one with the ability to understand what Dust actually did.

Once the whispering and confusion calmed down, Kazuma resumed his lecture. "It's a question that many scientists have asked, but never has there been an answer. Well, until very recently. You see, I happen to be gifted with a certain affinity to Dust, and as such I've made some progress toward understanding the mechanics of it, which is why Ozpin hired me in the first place. Among other reasons, but that was the main one. . . probably." He took a moment to think on the conversation he'd overheard the previous day between Glynda and his employer, before returning to the present.

"Dust works by fundamentally changing the laws of reality, very temporarily. It does this by attracting nature's own elemental energy to it, which causes an effect depending on how it is channeled and contained. Aura can control these reactions to a certain extent, whereas Dust ammo simply channels that power into a single event." Kazuma had been illustrating the basics of the idea on the board as he spoke. It showed a Dust crystal being held in a person's hand, with arrows representing Aura being funneled into the gem. A second drawing showed the Aura being expelled from the person's hand and toward a target. Lastly, a fireball was shot off in the direction of the Aura projection.

"As the diagram indicates, the power used to create the reaction in manual Dust manipulation is then redirected toward a suitable target. Can anyone guess what would happen if one were to forget this last step, and the power was to remain in the crystal for too long?" There was nothing but silence, so he decided to try out a practice he'd always seen teachers using in order to humiliate students. He spotted Jaune looking horribly lost and possibly half asleep, so he pointed toward the blonde boy.

"Mr. Arc, how about you? What would happen?"

Jaune was suddenly jolted from his own thoughts and back to the real world when Pyrrha elbowed him. "Ah, uh, I'm sorry sir, could you repeat the question?" he said sheepishly.

"Were you not paying attention, Mr. Arc?" Kazuma asked, despite knowing the answer to his own question.

"Um. . . Sorry, sir. I was preoccupied," Jaune admitted.

Kazuma nodded sagely, much to his students' surprise. They thought he would have been more angry. "It's perfectly alright. After all, this much is somewhat rudimentary knowledge for anyone who practices Dust manipulation, so I can understand being bored by it. So you must use Dust in your fighting style, correct Mr. Arc?"

Jaune saw what he thought was a way out, and going against Pyrrha's glare he decided he's take it. "Well, a bit. I can at least do the basics." It was an utter lie, considering the boy had his Aura unlocked just yesterday. Kazuma knew this and gave a predatory grin.

"Good, good. How about you come down here and give us a demonstration, then? Nothing too spectacular."

Gulping but not willing to admit his error, Jaune nodded and walked down to the lower level of the classroom. Kazuma took his sealing tag off one of the many cases scattered throughout the room, and from the box he withdrew a small red crystal, which he handed to Jaune, then replacing the tag.

"Here you are Mr. Arc, now please attack the target. You may use any form you wish for the attack, but be mindful of the space you are in." Reaching behind his desk, Kazuma hit a button. Out of the floor rose a wicker target, much like one that would be used for archery.

'Ok Jaune, you can do this. It's easy; just look at the drawings and copy them. It can't be that hard, can it?'

With this thought he slowly activated his Aura, remembering the feeling of it from his time in the forest. He began to direct his Aura into his hand, and then to the crystal in his palm. It was actually quite difficult for him; the entire process took about two minutes, and that was just to get enough power into the gem to activate it at all. Kazuma saw the small number of fire spirits flow into the Dust crystal, making it slightly smaller as they absorbed it.

Jaune then tried to complete the process by expelling his power toward the target, but quickly realized that it wasn't working. The energy just pooled in his palm as he tried to direct it. The flame-infused Aura attack refused to get too far away from him; it latched onto the crystal like roots clinging to the soil.

The entire class, having grown rather annoyed that Jaune was taking too long, was now worried. They could see the beginning of the attack was formed, but the inept student in front of them seemed to be having difficulty. At this stage the attack was impossible to cancel, so an explosion was imminent. Everyone with any sense in their head ducked down, hoping that having something between them and the coming disaster would prevent any form of injury. The only ones who hadn't gotten the memo were Ruby, Nora, and Yang. The first simply wasn't too aware of the danger, while the other two didn't want to miss a second of what they were sure was going to be an epic explosion.

While all the other students were hiding, Kazuma just applied a thin barrier of wind. He knew that the explosive result of Jaune's overconfidence would actually be rather small, and also why it would happen. The fire spirits were gathering, and without direction they would simply react wherever they were at the time of consuming the entire Dust crystal. In this case, it was in Jaune's hand.

 **Boom.**

After the cloud of soot dispersed, a rather disheveled blonde stood before the mind mage, light burns on his arms and chest. At least the boy had been smart enough to keep his Aura up, else those would be quite a bit worse. Not fatal or disabling, but painful for sure.

"Well then, Mr. Arc, have we learned our lesson about daydreaming during class, and then lying to a teacher's face?" Kazuma asked with a smirk.

Jaune was crestfallen, but the rest of the class was undoubtedly amused, excluding those who knew him. Actually, Nora, Yang, and Weiss were giggling along with the rest, while Blake was grinning ever so slightly.

"Yes sir," the boy answered in a dejected tone. He was kicking himself for his stupid mistake as he trudged back to his seat. It was right about then that an alarm sounded, one that Kazuma had set himself to let him know when his time was up.

"Alright class, make sure that by Wednesday you can properly direct your Aura unlike Mr. Arc, that way I can get an idea of what styles would fit each of you best. Alternatively, if your style already incorporates Dust and Aura manipulation, be prepared to show me."

Kazuma slumped down in his chair, slightly tired from the ordeal. Seeing his favorite little kitty walking toward him, though, he groaned and sat up straight.

"Hey Blake, what's up?" he asked, much more casual now that the other students - minus the rest of Team RWBY - were gone. He still wasn't going to use his nickname for her, simply because he was technically her teacher and this was the classroom. Out of class he might, but he had a feeling that calling her by that name here just wasn't right.

She handed him a sheet of paper and examined it, nodded, then put it away in the desk. "Thanks, glad the lease ended without a problem. If you have any of the money left, go ahead and keep it, though I want the deposit check back." People though Kazuma was a miser, but this wasn't quite the case; he had given Blake some money for living expenses, meaning that even if she had more than she needed, he was willing to never seen that money again. He took every cent he could get, but didn't care to reclaim money he had given others.

"Alright, thanks," and after that short statement walked toward the exit. Kazuma need to get to the bottom of something though, so he called out to her before she got very far. As she turned to face him, Kazuma took a long look at her.

She really didn't look different from usual. This was definitely the Blake he knew, and her clothes were just the standard uniform with the slight addition of a bow on her head. There was nothing different from when they were living together. He could even see her black kitty ears. . . which were currently covered by the bow. Kazuma facepalmed when he realized what he had been overlooking. Really, it was so obvious that not noticing by now was almost shameful.

"Is something wrong, Professor?" asked the youngest member and leader of the team.

"No, nothing. Just realized something that shouldn't have taken this long." He turned his attention to Blake, who was still looking at him with a neutral expression. "Blake, if you don't want me to I won't say anything, but this is definitely going to backfire on you. Anyway, you can go now, Neko-chan." Screw his professionalism, if she was going to hide her identity he was going to have some fun with it.

Blake scowled at him before marching out of the room in annoyance, while her team trotted to catch up.

 **So, cool thing is that this story now has over 100 followers and favorites, which is awesome! Thanks guys for all the support. I means a ton to an aspiring writer to know people are enjoying his work, myself especially. If you're interested, look for another chapter of Grimm Child later tonight or tomorrow, in which I'll be addressing something important to that story in the AN. Anyway, you know the drill: review, favorite/follow if you haven't, and see ya later!**


	8. Chapter 8: Secrets and Schemes

**-SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't seen the end of Volume 3, skip the AN note or go watch it now.-**

 ***Wakes up in a black void***

 **Me: Wh-what happened?**

 **There is nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see. In front of me is a girl. She is young, maybe fifteen. She wears a goth lolita outfit in black, with white trim and accents. She also has a white cloak fastened to her shoulders. The cloak's hood covers her face. She is carrying a large, mechanical scythe, mostly in white but with a large number of black markings.**

 **Me: Where am I? What happened?**

 **Her: You are the Writer. I am the ghost of RWBY. You saw the Volume 3 Finale, and have ended up here. Your heart stopped from all of the feelings you were forced to endure.**

 **Me: So, it destroyed my feels? And I died from it?**

 **Her: Yes, essentially. But you are being returned to the world. There is still much you must do.**

 **Me: Thank you. But wait, won't I still be forced to endure the fact that several beloved characters (Pyrrha, Penny, Amber wasn't beloved but still) are dead, Blake is AWOL, Ozpin is MIA, and Yang is an amputee? All until Volume 4 comes out?**

 **Her: Correct. Good luck, young man.**

 **Me: NOOOOOOO!**

 **That about sums up my feelings on the season finale. Things turned unbelievably bleak in the space of 2 or 3 episodes, and I both love and hate RT right now. Let's get that out of our heads, shall we?**

 **xbox432: Yeah, had to take some time to fine-tune that lecture. I'll spend more time on other lessons I'm sure, but during the first week a lot of classes let out early just because they can't teach much right off the bat. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. TOTALLY not because I was lazy. Not at all.**

 **thenotes146: Thanks, I try.**

 **StayBlessed: Cool, I have some pairing ideas but nothing cemented yet. The best stories write themselves, after all.**

 **YukkiAsuna-Chan: Yep. He's going to be having a lot of fun with it. What that leads to in the long run, who knows.**

 **garoorar: Cool, glad to see you enjoyed the lesson. There will certainly be more to come. Velvet too OP, please nerf lol.**

 **Lord Asmodeus: I really see no evidence that Hunstmen are used as assassins or purgers, at least not as a general rule. It is noted that some do less-than-reputable jobs, but they seem to be ostracized. They would be the first drafted into war, though.**

 **Azraelean: Jaune will have his development, but he will be no more important than the other students. With Kazuma in the mix, the way he develops will undoubtedly be different than cannon. Glad you enjoy my work, here's more to enjoy!**

 **Abrams 1559: We'll see. It is not out of the question, especially after this chapter. . .**

 **LL: Puns and cat jokes will certainly be part of it, though I have plans beyond that. Cinder is very knowledgeable about the Maidens, so I doubt she'd mistake anything else for their power, but there are proven to be other legends he could be linked to.**

"Blake, wait up!"

When her teammate just ignored her call, Ruby used her Speed Semblance to cut the black-haired girl off.

"Blake, what's wrong? You seem annoyed for some reason. Can we help?"

By this point Weiss and Yang had caught up, and were looking worriedly at their teammate. Blake wasn't usually the type to get annoyed, so what Kazuma had said must have hit a nerve.

"Blake, how do you know him?" Yang asked, since there was obviously some history here.

There was a long silence. Blake seemed to have no interest in answering the question. Ruby and the other's hadn't picked up on it, but Kazuma had almost revealed her secret to all of them, so of course she was a bit pissed off.

Giving up, Blake decided that there was no point in hiding her relationship to the Fuujutsu-shi, since they would just ask Kazuma himself if she didn't say anything.

"Kazuma and I were partners after I moved into Vale. We exterminated Grimm, provided private security, that kind of thing."

"So why'd you storm off like that?" Yang asked.

"That nickname is incredibly annoying. I will not tell you what it means, and I suggest you forget about it," she said as Yang opened her mouth. She would not allow the others to learn what the words meant. She was just lucky that Japanese was a dead language on Remnant, or else she'd be one step closer to being revealed.

Yang, on the other hand, pouted at being denied. How was she supposed to joke about it if she didn't know what it meant?

Blake began to walk down the halls again toward their dorm, significantly calmer this time, with her team in tow.

Of course, it would have been too much to hope that the questions stopped there. "So, what was that paper you gave him, and something about a lease?" Ruby wondered aloud.

"We were living in the same place. When Kazuma came here to teach, I stayed behind until the entrance ceremony. I was just giving him the reciept for the last month's lease."

"You lived with him? That's indecent! What possessed you to do such a thing?" Weiss threw in.

"Aw, come on Ice Queen. Obviously they were doing all kinds of fun stuff! After all, Professor Kazuma does have that kind of look to him. Good catch, Blake!" Yang added.

"No," Blake responded simply. "Just. . . no. We never did anything like that. I didn't have a place to stay, and he wanted some help with work and around the house." Sure, she was more comfortable with Kazuma that just about anyone else she knew, and she did find him attractive, but they had never slept together.

"Oh, so he's free game then?" Yang teased.

Blake hesitated at that thought, but shrugged after a moment. She was a bit disturbed by the thought of Yang trying to get together with Kazuma, but it wasn't any of her business. "Do what you want."

"Oh, I will. Just you wait," Yang returned. She was eager to tease the guy. Unlike Port, she'd welcome flirting from Kazuma, not just because he was good looking, either. He'd already proven to her that he was strong and a fun guy to hang around.

"Yang, no flirting with the guy who kicked your butt," Ruby deadpanned. "Dad would throw a fit if he heard about it."

"Pff, so? Like he'd ever find out. Plus, Dad throws a fit anytime I flirt with a guy, not just the ones stronger than me, of which Kazuma is the first by the way."

Blake thought part of that sounded very odd. "When did you fight Kazuma? And how are you still alive?"

"I met him at a bar and, not gonna lie, he beat me pretty badly. Only got one good shot on him before he started using his Semblance, though. Knocked me out within seconds after that. Didn't even know what it was, actually, that's how fast it was."

Blake nodded and decided to keep to herself the fact that Kazuma didn't actually have a Semblance. He was fortunate that his Fuujutsu was easily able to pass as a Semblance, else it would be much harder to hide. Just because he had dropped a few vague hints about her secret didn't warrant her outing his.

Their conversation strayed from Blake and Kazuma and onto more usual topics, and pretty soon they all made it back to the room and settled down for the afternoon, completing homework and doing whatever it was they did as hobbies.

* * *

Kazuma's scroll rang out through the otherwise silent room, waking up the napping man. Irritated, he looked over to see that it was Ozpin calling. It was always annoying when that man called, but this was probably an opportunity for profit, as well.

"Hey, what do ya need? I was having a great dream, so it better be important," he said as he answered it.

"I'm sorry to have woken you. Do you know about the spree of Dust robberies that's been going on around Vale?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The police are pressuring us to lend them a Huntsman with some kind of sensing ability. Would you be interested? It would classify as a mission, and you will be compensated appropriately."

With no hesitation, "How much?"

"I've sent a recommendation, so you can expect no less that 50,000 Lien. Maybe more if you can complete the job quickly enough."

"Hmm. Alright, but tell them I won't be heading out until ten. I haven't been sleeping well recently, so I need to catch up a bit."

"I'll let them know. Remember that your performance will help build your reputation as a Huntsman, and although you already have quite the record as a mercenary, this will be much more influential in attracting clients."

"Good to know. Goodbye," Kazuma stated as he hung up. He was sitting up in bed, and right now he had one hand rubbing his face. He was tired, and his eyes felt heavy. No matter what, he just couldn't get those words out of his head. They haunted his dreams, alongside the image that appeared in his nightmares.

She was there, trailing blood, looking at him with her accusing eyes. And the words, her supposed last desire - "I want to kill you."

He used to have Ayano to help him with it all. The girl had no tact whatsoever, but she distracted him enough that he had been getting better sleep, at the very least. He had felt a bit better when she was around. But she was on Earth and he was here in Remnant.

Oh well, he'd make do. He survived before he met Ayano, and he could survive now. He was still the same person as ever: Kazuma Yagami. Mercenary, smartass, and all-around morally ambiguous Contractor.

He lay down and tried to catch up on some quality rest. Hopefully he could go back to the dream he'd been having earlier. Within a few minutes his breathing evened out and he fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

"Hey, you feel that?"

The speaker was a gruff man, just over six feet in height and well-built. By his uniform, anyone could tell he was a cop. It was made even more obvious by the fact that he was standing in front of an empty Dust shop with police tape all around it. He was speaking to a slightly disheveled man of similar height, a detective.

"That wind? Yeah, that was weird. Not a gust all day, then we nearly get picked up by it."

A new voice interjected, one that hadn't been there before. "Excuse me, do either of you know where I can find the chief?"

Both of the men spun around, their senses having missed the new arrival.

"How'd you do that?" the first man shouted.

"Hmm? What do you mean? I just walked over and asked you a question. Kazuma Yagami, Huntsman, by the way. Now, I have some business with the chief."

The detective calmed down slightly, but his instincts were keeping him somewhat on guard.

"Oh, right. He said to bring you to him when you got here. Follow me." So saying, the detective walked off toward one of the police vehicles, Kazuma trailing lazily behind him. When they reached the car it opened, revealing a short man with a badge pinned to his chest.

"Sir, this is the Huntsman Ozpin sent us," was all the detective said.

"Ah, good. FInally, someone with talent. No offense, detective. Now, Ozpin said you can track these guys so long as it wasn't too long ago, is that right?"

Kazuma nodded. "As long as it's been less than a day, I should be able to do something."

"Good, good. Do what you do, then report back. And don't fight them without the force behind them. I don't care how tough you Huntsmen are, there are a lot of the suckers if the reports are right."

Kazuma paid the instructions little mind. He had no plans to fight anyway; he liked the thrill of battle as much as anyone, but he didn't enjoy needless conflict. He'd let the police force do all the hard work if possible.

He retreated a few steps and began collecting spirits. Nothing that had passed through the area recently could hide from his awareness. As the spirits fed him information, he caught the likeness of Roman Torchwick. The man was a notorious crook in Vale. The man was easily identifiable at six feet tall, with bright orange hair and a bowler hat. He walked with a cane, though it was a weapon rather than a walking aide, and his outfit was a white suit, black slacks, and black gloves.

Now that he knew who the target was and what he looked like, Kazuma would have to follow the trail to investigate. If he really wanted to he could activate the Contract in order to track Roman from here, but that was more trouble than it was worth for such a simple operation. He began to float up, above the rooftops, and disappeared from sight.

It didn't take long for the wind mage to track down his prey. Roman was using a small warehouse near the shipping district as temporary storage, before sending it. . . somewhere. There was no reason to be sitting on so much Dust, so they must be transporting it somewhere or using it for something.

The other thing that struck Kazuma was the size of the operation. This wasn't just a small crime ring. He noticed several dozen workers operating cranes and forklifts to move massive containers of Dust or taking stock of what is in those containers. He had his wind investigate the insides of many of those containers and, sure enough, they were all full of Dust. Rounds, powder, crystals, they had it all. There were even clothes with Dust sewn into the fabric.

At the back of the warehouse was a small gathering of people, including Roman. There were four others, none of whom Kazuma recognized. One was a short girl with hair that was half pink and half brown, though the pink area had white streaks in it as well. She wore a black corset under a white jacket. The collar and sleeves of the jacket were pink, and because the front of the garment cut off at the top of the stomach he could see that it was also pink inside. Her pants were black, tucked into white boots with black on the toes and heels. The girl carried an umbrella, and her eyes would occasionally switch colors between pink, brown, and white, often becoming mismatched.

Another young woman, about the age of his students if Kazuma had to guess, stood next to the multi-colored girl. This girl was about Yang's height with dark skin, and her hair was minty green. It was styled in a fringe cut which didn't quite reach her shoulders, but with two longer tails in the in the back. She wore a white top which intricately wrapped around her chest without covering it and an olive undershirt that looked more like a bikini than an actual shirt. Covering her legs were a white pair of pants, covered by leather chaps. Both ended midway down her calves. On her feet were a pair of low heels, and there were two large pistols holstered on the back of her waist.

Next to her was a young man, the only male in the group besides Roman. About Kazuma's height, he seemed extremely cocky. His hair was steel grey, a color which made up the majority of his outfit, alongside black. The outfit itself was a simple, dual-colored jacket and black pants, with black gun boots on his feet. His arms were well protected with plate armor on both his upper and lower arms, though none on his elbows. Fingerless gloves with metal plates protected his hands.

These three, along with Roman, were standing in front of a woman who looked to be in her early twenties. Her black hair was draped down the front of her shoulder, but would reach beyond the bottom of her shoulders if she were to let it fall down her back. She was attractive, with peach skin and glowing amber eyes. She had on a low-cut, red minidress with intricate, golden patterns across her chest and down her arms. On her upper back was a tattoo of a pair of heels with the bottoms together.

The woman was slowly pacing in front of her audience with a playful yet dangerous smile on her face. "So Roman," she began, "tell me again why I had to come save you from a certain Witch last week, damaging one of our Bullheads in the process?"

"Cinder, you know as well as I do that it couldn't be helped. How was I to know that a little girl with a red hood was good enough to take out all of those men? Honestly, I consider it a success that we got away with any Dust at all."

"I think we have differing views on what can be considered a success, Roman. First you lose track of the deserter, and now this. What am I to do with you?" Cinder's tone made her disappointment clear as daylight. "I don't believe I have to remind you what failure entails, do I?"

To punctuate that line, a flame came alive in Cinder's hand, but this flame wasn't created by Dust alone. There was some other power at work, something that disturbed the spirits of nature. Kazuma was unprepared for the sudden change in the demeanor of the spirits, causing his invisibility and flight, some of his more delicate techniques, to fall apart. Since he was hovering directly above the group at the time, there was no way he wasn't seen. He landed on his feet a couple yards behind Cinder, who looked at him with surprise.

As Kazuma dusted himself off from the unexpected landing, the woman regained her composure and directed her full attention to the spy. "Well, what do we have here? A Huntsman?"

Kazuma, however, didn't panic. The spirits were disturbed by this woman's power, but he could still retain control of them. If it came to a fight, he'd still have the power to win. "Kind of, I guess," he replied. "More of a mercenary, though."

"Oh? And what would you happen to be doing here?"

"Making some money, obviously. By the way, do you think you could give me a light with that fire of yours?" He asked, holding out a cigarette.

Amused, Cinder allowed a small flame to dance on her fingertip. There was no movement among the spirits of the wind this time, meaning that she was only using Dust. So that power was something separate from the Dust itself, but could be used to enhance it. Kazuma took a long drag before speaking again.

"So, you caught me. I don't suppose you would let me just walk out, huh?"

"Unfortunately I can't do that, no," Cinder followed. She took a few steps away from Kazuma before shooting a fireball directly at him. He sighed as he sidestepped the attack. It was a bad idea to show off his abilities if he didn't have to. Five more fireballs came at him, and he was forced to weave around them as to not be burned horribly. He had a kekkai of wind surrounding his body though, just in case.

"Look, I'm not getting payed enough to deal with you people. Why don't we just go our separate ways and pretend this never happened, alright?" By this point Kazuma had taken cover behind cargo container, since the other four had joined into the fight as well. The White Fang goons, fearful of Cinder and the others, had left the building.

Roman answered him this time. "Just come on out, buddy. Trust me, how hard my boss here has to work will be the difference between second and third-degree burns."

This was a pain. Five enemies, no way out without using force. The more Kazuma thought about it, the more he realized how far intimidation was getting him in this world, so he might as well use it again. Drawing in nearby wind spirits, he allowed his ki to flow out and put pressure on his enemies.

The effects were about as he expected. Roman and Emerald were forced to kneel, while Neo was stunned. Mercury fared slightly better, but he stopped moving at all. Cinder was the least affected, and the only indication that she was phased was the fact that she stopped her assault. She could feel the power that her enemy was emitting, and he was not someone she wanted to fight if possible, even with a portion of the Fall Maiden's power.

"Come out, spy. Let's negotiate."

"Excuse me?" Kazuma asked, stepping out from behind his shelter. He still had the kekkai up in case this was a trick, but Cinder was simply approaching him with raised hands.

"You heard me right." She was directly in front of him now, placing her hand on his cheek. She was surprised when she felt a strong force just on top of his skin, like Aura but more physical. It felt like a solid layer of air. "I wouldn't want word of this getting out, and I don't think fighting is going to get us anywhere. So, what can I offer you to work for me?"

"What's with the sudden change of heart?"

"You're obviously strong. I like strong people. And if I could have you as an ally rather than an enemy, I could make it well worth the risk."

Kazuma thought about her offer. Sure, she was the enemy right now. But that was only because he was working with Ozpin and the police. He didn't really care about either one, so long as he got his money from them it didn't matter if he was loyal to them.

"They hired me to track down the culprit of the recent Dust robberies, meaning Mr. Firework over there. I don't have any business with you, really. So long as I bring him in or get a lead on him I've done my job. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to have the whole gang though, and the White Fang on top of it."

"Hmm, I see. So if you take Torchwick and the Dust robberies stop then you have done your job."

"Yup, that's about the extent of it," agreed Kazuma.

"Hold up! Cinder, honey, you can't just throw me to the wolves. What happens when you need more Dust? Plus, what guarantee do you have that he won't double cross us?"

Kazuma decided to cut in, saying "I could just take all of you in now. The fact that I might have something to gain is the only thing between everyone here and prison at the moment."

"I see. So you want more than just Torchwick for letting the rest of us go, is that it?" Cinder asked.

"Right. I'm thinking 150,000 Lien and an open channel in the future could make me forget the rest of you. Of course, I'll still need to lead them to this warehouse. Evidence and all that."

Cinder thought for a moment before smiling again. "You have a deal. We'll be out of here by morning, so if you can keep the police away until then I'll wire the money to your account. It was good working with you Mr. . ."

"Yagami," he answered. "Kazuma Yagami. The same to you, Ms. . ."

"Fall. We'll have to talk business again in the future, Mr. Yagami." She concluded by offering her hand.

"Sure. As long as you can pay and I don't have to take sides," he said as they shook on the newly-forged deal."

 **As usual, leave any comments or criticism you have in the form of reviews. Always happy to read it. Now, I'm gonna go cry in a hole over Pyrrha's death and the destruction of Beacon.**


	9. Chapter 9: Justice?

**So, this update came along a little slow. Meant to get it out last night, but just could not get myself in the writing mood. Oh well, better to put out a good (in my opinion) chapter than a rushed one.**

 **ThePizziaMan: All are welcome to cry over Volume 3 in my Hole of Sadness! And yes, Greedy Kazuma is greedy, and always will be.**

 **LuciferXIII: Yes, yes it will be. Set all the ships sailing!**

 **YukkiAsuna-Chan: Thanks, I really try to keep Kazuma in character as much as possible.**

 **garoorar: The pain may never fade, and the new info will definitely have an effect on this story. Not now, but it will.**

 **thenotes146: He was, but also served as an excellent inside man. He still is an inside man, come to think of it. Anyway, I like him a lot as a character, so he will likely be making a cameo later (before the invasion).**

 **TheOreoMan: Not much to say except thanks, and here's another one.**

 **StayBlessed: Thanks for the compliment and you're welcome for the info. I suggest you do go watch the series because OMG was that season finale epic, but if you just want to keep reading and having fun here that's cool too. Other things from the finale will be revealed, and are in some other author's stories already, so stay tuned.**

 **Lord Asmodeus: Cool, and glad you mentioned his morality; it comes up again in this chapter's conversation. As for the role of Huntsmen, you have a very good point. Makes me think about what exactly goes on behind closed doors in Remnant, and how I might be able to include that. Always nice to be granted a new viewpoint, so thanks for that.**

 **GJO1088: Yeah, shit really hit the fan. Same suggestion as for StayBlessed, but if my readers are happy I'm happy. Here's your first cat pun, btw. And I'll be answering your questions in the Grimm Child review in the next chapter, possibly tomorrow but no promises. I'll also give my opinion there, simply cuz this author's note will be huge as it is.**

 **BBWulf: I'm glad you gave my story a chance. I listed it as T to make sure it would show up on the default filter, but it will be switching to M soon, maybe even before the next chapter. Depends on whether I think it's warranted.**

 **LL: Both of your reviews actually did post, don't know why you couldn't see the first one on your end. I love how people always manage to mention the things that are going to be in the next chapter, btw. It's like you guys have some kind of mind-reading abilities lol.**

 **As always, thanks to my guests, too. I may start skipping responses to some of the reviews going forward (ones that I don't have too much to say about) simply to shorten these ANs. This one is already going to be over 500 words. Just know I appreciate all of the reviews, and any kind words or criticism within, whether I respond directly or not.**

In Kazuma's opinion, today was more exciting than it should have been. He had taught a class, been woken from his nap, worked for the police, followed Torchwick's trail through the city, and nearly had a heart attack when he was discovered by the man's boss. Then he'd been shot at with bullets and fireballs, before making a deal allowing him to finish the job. He was tired.

So when he walked out of the warehouse with his "captive" in tow and was met with a bunch of White Fang goons who hadn't gotten the memo that Kazuma was allowed to leave, he was not happy. For the second time today, he was having guns pointed at him.

"Freeze, Huntsman! Release Torchwick and give yourself up or we shoot!" one of the idiots commanded.

Kazuma looked at Torchwick, who was backing off and didn't seem willing to speak for the practitioner's credentials. After all, Torchwick wanted his freedom and Cinder wanted to make sure their secret didn't get out. If Kazuma died, that was two problems solved.

Sighing, he took another drag on the cigarette Cinder had lit for him. Today was far too exciting.

After a few seconds of silence, the Fang member who had called out gave the order to fire, and his men obeyed. There were over two dozen gunners, and those magazines held thirty-six rounds each. So that was over one thousand bullets coming straight at Kazuma. Who continued to stand there as the bullets bounced off his kekkai harmlessly.

It took about a minute for all of the goons to empty their weapons, and when they did they stood back to examine the result, which was basically nothing. No corpse, no wounds, nothing. Just dented pieces of metal scattered around the target, who was still standing there, smoking as if he hadn't been assaulted by enough lead to block a nuclear meltdown. The man was extremely annoyed, and it was evident on his face, but completely unharmed.

So, said target was perfectly able to execute his next move. Execute being the key word, as seconds after the firing squad finished they found their heads separated from their bodies. Kazuma didn't do anything fantastic; he just used a circular wind blade and extended it outward from himself. The effect was quick, not very clean, and extremely efficient. Just the way Kazuma prefered it.

He turned around and spotted Torchwick on the ground nearby. The thief had ducked in case of stray bullets, which had spared him from Kazuma's attack as well. In all honesty, Torchwick looked about ready to piss his pants after the slaughter Kazuma had inflicted, and nobody would blame him.

"So, Torchwick, are you coming with me or not?" was all the victor said.

Torchwick opened his mouth, but found that no words would come out of it. His captor had just slain plenty of men without moving and without any noticeable hesitation. As much as the thief loved to quip and taunt, his instincts kept him back. It was a different feeling from what had happened in the warehouse. Like the difference between seeing someone swing a sword in practice versus seeing them decapitate someone. You knew in the back of your mind that they could do it, that they had the ability, but you hadn't thought about it.

There were only two words Torchwick could get out: "Yes, sir."

The two began to walk through the streets. It was a long way to the police station, about an hour's walk. After a few minutes, Torchwick regained his ability to speak coherently.

"So, Mr. Yagami, was it?"

"Yeah? Need something?"

"I can. . . understand what Cinder saw in you. Do you do things like that often?"

"I guess," Kazuma answered, knowing exactly what the man meant by it.

"How in Oum's name did you become a Huntsman, then? Or are you one of those fallen angel types?"

"Not sure what you mean by that," Kazuma said. He threw down the butt of his cigarette and stomped it out as he passed.

"Well, I've met more than a few of your kind. Supposed to help and guard the people, but Lien is hard to come by, so you end up doing some 'side jobs' to keep the bills paid."

"I think you have the wrong idea, Roman. I've always been a mercenary. I work for the highest bidder. Today it was your boss, tomorrow it could be the Fang, as much as I dislike them." Kazuma paused and took a moment to shrug. "At the moment I'm getting payed to turn you in, as well as to protect Cinder's little secret. That's all there is to it."

"Really? So if someone payed you to slaughter some little village, you'd do it? Men, women, children. All of them?"

"Your little guilt trips aren't working," Kazuma replied, knowing where the thief was going with all of this. "But to answer your question: not likely. No one on the right side of the law would hire me ever again if I agreed to that."

"Is that your only reason?"

"No, but it is the biggest one. I'll live how I want, do what I want, protect what I want, and destroy what I want. There's nothing else to it. What or who I kill is up to me, no one else. The same can be said about who I work for. I work for whoever pays the most, but there have been exceptions."

Roman let out a low whistle. "Your moral compass doesn't exactly point north, does it?"

"Nope, I'd say it heads solidly east. So long as you don't try to kill me and you aren't my target, though, you're pretty safe, so relax."

Roman gave a grunt and nodded. He just had to treat Kazuma like Cinder, basically. Actually, Cinder might be more likely to kill him than Kazuma was, just for being rude. He pulled out a cigar and put it in his teeth before taking out his lighter and flipping it. He sparked it and the diluted fire Dust inside came to life with a bluish-red flame. Seeing this, Kazuma held a cigarette up the to fire, and the two smoked together as they walked.

Roman had been afraid of Kazuma, and still was, but was also beginning to get a grasp on how to act around the slightly younger man. So long as Torchwick didn't do anything outright hostile, the wind user was actually pretty tolerant and amicable. Not a nice person by any means, but not downright evil the way Cinder was. He was a bit like Mercury, but less boastful for one thing. He knew his strength and was confident in himself, so he felt no need to show off. A fight wasn't a contest of who was stronger, but of who could use their strength better, and Kazuma was well aware of that.

After an hour and a half (Kazuma stopped them at A Simple Wok for a quick bite to eat) walk, Torchwick was brought into custody. The plan was simple: Kazuma delivers Roman to the police, Roman gets interrogated until morning, then spills the location of the warehouse in the morning under the guise of a plea bargain. Cinder gets her time, Kazuma gets paid by both sides, the police get Torchwick, and Torchwick gets to sit in jail until Cinder's group breaks him out. It was a win-win-win-lose. Three out of four sounded pretty good to Kazuma as he made the trip back to Beacon.

* * *

"So you captured Torchwick without incident, then?" Ozpin asked his employee.

"Well, it would be a lie to say it was without incident. There's probably still a very large bloodstain in front of the warehouse," Kazuma answered.

"Should I even ask?"

"It'd be better for your sanity if you didn't, honesty."

Kazuma was currently standing in Ozpin's office, handing in his report of last night's job, excluding Cinder, her group, and his deal with her. He'd waited until the next morning because he needed to catch up on sleep after dealing with all that. Being shot at was stressful, after all.

"Well Mr. Yagami, it seems you've earned your pay admirably. Tell me, how much did they pay you in the end?"

"Does it matter? My finances are mine to know, sir." Kazuma didn't want Ozpin to know that he'd bartered with the police to get almost double what he'd been promised, on top of Torchwick's bounty.

The older man took a drink from his ever-present mug of coffee. "True, true. Well, I won't keep you any longer. You're dismissed."

Kazuma nodded and headed toward the elevator, taking it down to the base of the tower. No matter how many times he was up there, he always felt a little different when in the headmaster's office. It was as if the air was filled with energy that didn't exist anywhere else he had been on Remnant. It wasn't something the wind mage could see or detect, but he felt it.

Kazuma was returned from his musings by the sound of his name being called from across the courtyard. He looked toward the source to see Team RWBY, all dressed in uniform. They didn't appear to be headed anywhere, however.

"Hey girls, what do need?" he asked while approaching them.

"Hey Professor!" Ruby greeted. "Yang's been excited to have a rematch with you, so if you aren't busy, I thought I'd ask if you want to spar with her?"

That was not what he'd been expecting, but he was up for it so long as he got paid. "So, how much am I getting for this?"

Yang chimed in, saying "Blake told me you don't work cheap, so I withdrew a good chunk of my savings for this!" She pulled out a stack of cards totaling 10,000 Lien. It wasn't much by Kazuma's normal standards, but money was money and he wasn't going far out of his way for this. He took the cards and put them away.

"Alright, then. When do you want to do this?"

It was Ruby's turn again. "How about Professor Goodwitch's class? She'll probably let us use the arena and the rest of us can watch."

Kazuma didn't really care about the when or where, and since he wasn't going to be using his powers very heavily the audience didn't matter to him. "Sure, get Glynda's permission and then we'll have a match. When do you have her?"

"Eleven o'clock," Weiss contributed. "It'll be a great opportunity to see how you fight, Professor Yagami, and I'm looking forward to it."

'Either she's forgotten the humiliation I put her through or she's looking for my weaknesses. Eh, I'm fine either way,' Kazuma thought.

"Alright, see you then. And Neko-chan," he said, locking eyes with the cat Faunus, "we should have a fight sometime too, to see if you've gotten any better since I left. It'll be on the house this once, so don't _pussy_ out on me." With that he rubbed her on the head. It looked innocent enough, just Kazuma teasing his one-time partner. In reality, he was rubbing her between the ears, right in that sensitive spot that usually sent her to purring. Back when he arrived on Remnant he had studied up on Faunus biology and physiology, and again when he started living with Blake. As it turns out, they shared a lot with the creatures they resembled, including certain weak and sensitive spots.

Blake began to relax slightly into the touch, and her teammates were confused when they heard a sound akin to a distant engine, or Yang when she saw a hot guy, coming from their stoic friend.

Blake's eyes were half-closed, so she was a bit slow to register her team members' stares. Once she realized what was going on, however, her eyes flashed open and she removed the admittedly gentle fingers from her head.

Before anyone could ask questions, Blake began walking off toward their dorm. She needed a minute without being questioned so she could create a cover for what the other girls had just seen, and they had no classes for another hour. If she raced straight to Goodwitch's arena, it would just look more suspicious, so she chose the only place that would be normal to head toward at the time.

Ruby and Weiss, after looking at each other in bewilderment, headed off after her. Yang stayed behind and leveled an absolutely evil grin toward Kazuma. "How'd you do that, Professor? I want all the dirt you can give me, including the meaning of 'Neko-chan.'"

Kazuma sent her a small smile of amusement in return. "Now why would you want to know all that?"

There was a small scoff, as if the answer should be so obvious that it shouldn't need to be spoken aloud. "To tease her, obviously. She's always so quiet and collected, and you're the only one who can make her flustered. Come on, you've gotta tell me how you do it!"

"Well," Kazuma said with an evil grin, "I suppose that, given enough incentive, I could tell you."

"Oh?" Yang said. She saw an opportunity to do something she had wanted to try for a while now. "You would hide such important information from a girl like me, would you?" She walked closer to Kazuma and put a hand on his chest, feeling the muscle underneath his shirt. "And here I thought we had come to understand each other after our first meeting."

Kazuma's grin widened slightly. He grabbed the girl's hand gently and leaned in so that his face was beside hers. "Oh, I think we understand each other quite well, Ms. Xiao Long." His voice was low and smooth, and his breath was warm on her cheek. "But I don't give away information on faith alone. Are you sure you're willing to pay my price?" His other hand went to the small of her back and pulled her just a touch closer to him. "Knowledge comes at a high cost, after all."

Needless to say, Yang was blushing heavily. She was used to teasing guys to get what she wanted, like she had with Junior. If that didn't work, use force. She was not at all used to having the tables turned on her. She quickly backed up, causing Kazuma's grin to erupt into a smile of amusement and victory. He wasn't really holding her there, so she was easily able to leave his grasp and look him straight in the face.

"W-what the hell?" she stammered.

"You made an offer," Kazuma replied. "I was simply taking you up on it. If you want to know what I did to Blake, there are several ways to pay; that's the one you chose, am I wrong?"

"I'm not some bimbo!" she shouted, attracting a few pairs of eyes to herself and the professor.

"Of course you aren't. So instead of trying to tease me, I suggest you come up with some more money or give up on figuring out what I did to her. It'll be funnier if you find out yourself, anyway."

The blonde, after hearing Kazuma's answer, calmed down considerably. "Wait, so you weren't actually coming onto me?" she asked.

He didn't answer the question, just shrugged and moved on. "You'll find out eventually, just give it some time. People may not be open books, but if you continue to read long enough you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know." Yang had no idea whether he was referring to himself or Blake, but it didn't matter. She had gotten a taste of her own medicine, and damn was it bitter.

 **So, we get some actual interaction between Torchwick and Kazuma, as well as Yang's first attempt to seduce our protagonist. Kazuma is draining the world dry as always, keeping the natural balance of the world intact. You know the drill about reviews and such. See ya next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10: The Promised Fight

**I know what you must be thinking: "Another chapter so soon? What is this sorcery?" I just really felt like getting this one up and off my mind, so here it is. Sorry for those who haven't gotten to read and post reviews yet but hey! Now you have two chapters to read.**

 **ThePizziaMan: It's funny, and it works when you think about who Roman has to deal with on a normal basis. If he can crack jokes around Cinder, he can get along with Kazuma to some extent.**

 **garoorar: I would rate the Maidens at about the strength of Divine Flame users. Top of their class, but not as strong as Contractors. Still, Cinder at the end of Volume 3 could definitely fight on even terms with Kazuma unless he invokes the Contract.**

 **Lord Asmodeus: There may or may not be such a chapter, but if there is it would towards the end of the story (which I plan to end on the Volume 3 Finale for obvious reasons). It would depend on how I have that whole shitstorm of events play out and how much I have Kazuma bond with the RWBY cast as a whole.**

 **That last one raises a good point, by the way. I don't know what exactly I'm going to do for the finale. Kazuma could easily stop a lot of Volume 3 from happening the way it did, but at the same time I could see reasons to keep the tragedies in. I'm divided on how I want Kazuma to involve himself and what role to put him in. I may put up a poll for it later.** **Well anyway, enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think!**

After sending off the confused and embarrassed blonde and contacting that bitchy combat instructor, Goodwitch, Kazuma found a nice, inviting bench on which to sit for a minute. Just a few minutes of rest wouldn't hurt anyone, right? After all, he'd been busy lately. He closed his eyes and relaxed, allowing his consciousness to fade away.

The next thing Kazuma felt was a soft hand shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes the slightest bit, not fully awake yet. He saw red hair, a lean arm, and a school uniform.

"Can't you see I'm trying to sleep, Ayano? Whatever you want to yell at me about can wait a few hours."

He heard a small giggle as the hand shook him again, causing him to actually look at the girl in front of him. He hadn't been wrong in what he saw, but she definitely wasn't Ayano. Besides, he should have know that the Enjustsu-shi would have been much more violent in waking him up.

"Oh, Pyrrha. Sorry about that, I was a little out of it."

"No, I'm sorry for waking you up Professor. This just doesn't seem like the best place for a nap. You might get sunburnt."

Kazuma looked around to find he was still sitting on the bench, and the sun was higher in the sky than he recalled. The rest of Team JNPR was standing around watching the exchange between

"Yeah, thanks. I hadn't meant to fall asleep. Say, how long have I been here?"

Pyrrha checked her scroll. "Well it's about quarter to eleven."

He'd sent Yang off after her team a little after nine, so he'd been asleep for just over an hour and a half.

"Does that mean you four are headed to Goodwitch's class?" He received nods from the group. It only made sense since that would be the only class running for first year students right now. Like a lecture class in a normal university, the sparring class was something that lumped as many students together as possible. Unlike a lecture, however, it was a very involved class and there was actually enough space.

"That's right," Pyrrha said. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm headed that way myself. Might as well walk with company."

"Oh, all right. That's fine with me."

So Team JNPR plus one wind mage made their way toward the arena that was Goodwitch's domain. The team talked amongst themselves while Kazuma listened in, somewhat lost in his own thoughts.

"U-um, Professor Kazuma?" came the team's blonde leader.

"Hmm? Need something, Jaune?"

"When Pyrrha woke you up, you called her Ayano. Who is that?"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha chastised. "You shouldn't ask the Professor something rude like that."

"It's fine, Pyrrha," Kazuma sighed. "It isn't a secret or anything. But Jaune, it is a bit rude to ask about other people's personal lives like that, so don't get into the habit."

"Oh, alright. Sorry Professor," returned the downtrodden blonde.

"Not a problem. Anyway, Ayano was my second cousin. She was the family's successor and I was payed to guard her, not that she needed it very often. More than anything, the family just wanted me to keep her temper on a leash."

"Guard her? Is the Yagami family influential where you're from?" Ren asked. Leave it to the quiet one to ask the important questions.

"Kannagi family, actually, and yes they were. They had a Semblance which passed down through lineage, much like the Schnee family, and because of it they were very esteemed."

"But your family name is Yagami, isn't it Professor?" Jaune pressed. "What's that all about?"

"They kicked me out when I didn't inherit the family's Semblance. Rather than their Pyrokinesis, I have Aerokinesis. Hell, it wasn't until a few months after my expulsion that my Semblance awakened at all, and even after four years I wasn't exactly welcomed back with open arms." Kazuma chuckled at how much of an understatement that was. They had tried to burn his limbs off and drag him back to the compound. When he tried to walk in on his own power, they wanted to burn him to a crisp. They seriously believed every problem could be solved by setting it on fire.

"That's terrible!" Pyrrha exclaimed, then promptly covered her mouth. "I'm sorry," she spoke, this time at normal volume. "It's just. . . how could they kick you out for something like that. You had no control over it. And even if you didn't inherit the same Semblance, you seem plenty strong! To disown you for something so unfair. . ."

Kazuma shrugged in disinterest. "That's nice to hear, but it's not a big deal. They measured a family member's worth by the power of that person's flames. Then, when faced with something more powerful than them, they bitched and moaned about how it wasn't right for anyone to go against the Kannagi and how such people should know their place. There were some decent members, including Ayano and her father, who was the clan head at the time, but most of them disgusted me. In retrospect, I'm actually glad I was kicked out."

Nora, who had been surprisingly quiet up until that point, chimed in with her usual energy: "You should break those jerks' legs! Then you could show them all how cool wind is!"

The wind user chuckled. "Oh, I did a lot worse than that," he admitted. He remembered knocking out well over a dozen branch family members when he finally came back to the compound, plus what he did to Shingo and Takeya. It wasn't his fault they died, but he did create an explosion in their faces.

Everyone except the destruction-loving ginger paled a bit at the gleeful insinuation of violence. "You didn't, k-kill anybody, right?" Jaune asked.

"Not personally, but a good number of people did die by the end, and a lot of it got blamed on me until we fixed it. By we, I mean myself, Ayano and Ren."

"Ren?" asked the boy by the same name.

"Right, I never mentioned him. He was my blood brother, one of the few people in the family that never disliked me. Unlike me, he was fairly gifted with the family's power. That's 'ren' as in 'rengoku' by the way, not like yours which means 'lotus.'"

"'Rengoku' translates to 'Purgatory,' correct?" the young man tried to confirm.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you know that. I heard Japanese is a dead language most places, so imagine my thoughts when I heard your name."

Ren just gave a nod, confirming that it was indeed a dead language. Hell, nobody on Remnant even knew why the language was called Japanese, just that it was. The same could be said about their current language, English.

By this point in the conversation they group had reached the arena. They had been walking rather slowly, taking almost the entire fifteen minutes to get there. Kazuma bid the team farewell as they went up to the stands and took their seats. He went to stand next to Goodwitch, who gave him a curt nod before addressing the students.

"Class, today we will have Professor Yagami assisting us to simulate a battle against an opponent of higher strength. Please feel free to challenge him to a match if you so wish, but remember your limits. Though highly unprofessional," she glared at him with fierce and cold eyes, "he is still a Huntsman of strength befitting a Beacon Academy instructor. Underestimating him would be a massive mistake."

Kazuma stepped forward to say a few words of his own. "Well, someone's already claimed my first fight, so get down here. And Jaune," he added. The team leader sat at attention at hearing his name. "Do stay focused today. You may learn something, and I'm not sure if Glynda is quite as forgiving of inattention as I am."

Jaune paled at the idea that Kazuma's definition of "forgiving" involved making him blow himself up and be humiliating himself in front of the entire class.

Yang hooted and walked down to the battleground, Ember Cecilia already activated and ready to go. Glynda connected both fighter's scrolls to the display, and wasn't all that surprised to find his bar was empty. The students seemed confused and worried about this fact until Kazuma himself spoke up.

"Yeah, my Aura doesn't work the same so the sensors can't pick it up. Mine's all internal by nature, as opposed to being an outward manifestation. Rather than using it as a shield, I rely on my Semblance for that. Just call the match if I look like I can't continue. That won't happen, but that's what you would do."

Glynda nodded and the students were calmed considerably. It still didn't sit well with some of the more logical ones, such as Weiss and Ren, but they weren't going to launch complaints against a teacher.

"Are both fighters ready?" Glynda asked. She got two nods in return. Yang's face had an excited smile which showed her desire to rampage, while Kazuma was completely calm, almost bored looking. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his slacks.

"Begin!" she called. Yang instantly dashed at her opponent with the recoil from her bracers, a fist cocked back. Kazuma sidestepped the attack without moving his arms or torso in the slightest, and kneed the girl in the gut.

"You overextend yourself when you attack. You're a brawler, so keep that guard up and hit me."

Yang didn't take even a second to pause before coming in with a right hook to Kazuma's ribs, which he backpedaled to avoid. The girl felt a massive force hit her jaw and went flying backwards. To the audience it looked like the air itself had slammed into her, which was an accurate description. Kazuma followed it up with a strike to Yang's right shoulder as she landed, intending to dislocate it. He forgot about the Aura shield, though, and did very little damage as a result. Realizing his mistake, he had to duck to avoid her jab. From his lower position he launched a double-handed palm thrust to her stomach, this time enhancing the attack with a decent chunk of ki.

The blonde staggered back a few steps and checked her Aura bar. She'd already lost more than a quarter of it. Meanwhile, Kazuma didn't even seem tired, which he probably wasn't. His fighting style was highly reactionary and flowing, reducing the energy necessary to inflict damage. Not ready to concede, however, Yang took a boxing stance and closed the distance again. From this position she launched a flurry of quick but powerful straights and crosses. Kazuma, for his part, deflected most of them but was grazed with a few stray hits. Nothing direct enough for his kekkai to strain against, though.

He broke the girl's combo by grabbing her left arm, turning his body so that he was behind her, and using his leg to sweep her feet out from under her. By pushing down with the leverage her arm provided and pushing her legs upward, he caused Yang to hit her head on the stone tiles. The fall had her body weight, gravity, and his pushing power behind it, so she felt the impact like a Boartusk's charge directly to her skull.

Kazuma, retaining an air of sportsmanship, back off and allowed his opponent to get up before attacking again. If this were a real fight Yang would be dead. Hell, she might have died right at the beginning if he were serious, but definitely after that. She got up, shakily, and checked the monitor again. She was down to forty percent, and might have a concussion regardless of Aura. The only things the shield protected a fighter from were external injuries, not a rattle to the brain.

She righted herself and went over her options. She had taken some huge impacts so far, but that meant her Semblance, which had activated automatically, was all charged up. She just needed to land a decent punch or two and she'd have him on the ropes. Deciding on a plan of action, she fired off several explosive blasts, which were countered by shockwaves of equal strength. Seeing as a long-range fight got her nowhere, Yang boosted her speed with the help of her gauntlets, deliberately racing past her opponent. From behind, she fired off another explosion, only this time she was a foot away.

Kazuma's barrier stopped the damage, but he still staggered slightly. Yang seized this moment to strike at the back of his knee, hoping to temporarily disable him. Just like at The Club, however, Kazuma was somehow privy to her pattern of attack, rolling forward so that the attack passed over him harmlessly.

He stood again and smiled at the irritated girl. "Good shot. If I had been anyone else, you might have snapped my leg in two. Too bad I'm me, though."

At his taunting, Yang charged with all of the speed she could find, ready to punch his lights out from the looks of it. He seemed to have no blind spots, but surprise attacks were still somewhat effective if she remembered their last fight correctly. So she'd go for a feint to the head and try to knock the wind out of him with the true strike.

She didn't get that chance, however, when a gust of wind threw her backwards and into a wall as multiple cuts appeared on her skin. She was pushed into the stone of the arena's side, leaving a small indention. She slumped to a sitting position, extremely shaken. Regardless, she stood up once more and checked the board. Twenty-three. After losing just a little more of her Aura she would be eliminated, so she had to make this next shot count.

She had to get him back for. . . for. . . wait. Was that. . . hair? Falling through the air and landing on the stone floor were several strands of long hair, with a color like spun gold. Yang's eyes, already red from the use of her Semblance, seemed to catch fire. The already present flames of her mostly remaining hair doubled in height as anger took over.

"You. . . BASTARD!" she shouted, and Ruby winced up in the stands. This was not going to end well at all.

Sure enough, while Kazuma just looked confused and slightly concerned for his safety, Yang ran at him with speed he hadn't been expecting. As such, he was not able to block the punch aimed at his cheek, which was strong enough to rip straight through the kekkai he had up. He went flying to the other side of the arena. Most of the damage had been absorbed, but that was still going to hurt like a bitch in the morning. Yang came in for a second huge blow, but this time Kazuma was having none of it. A visible barrier of wind formed between him and his assailant, before multiple explosions racked Yang's body. They were pretty small, but Yang was already suffering from a number of concussive impacts, so this last volley was able to simultaneously knock her out and bring her Aura to a measly two percent.

"Temper means nothing if you can't reign it in, little girl. Just like a certain bishoujo I knew," Kazuma said. His opponent wasn't awake to hear it but the comment was mostly to himself anyway.

While Kazuma dusted himself off and nursed his throbbing cheek, Ruby was gaping at the result of the fight. Sure, she'd known Kazuma was powerful, but a Yang whose raw strength was enhanced by her Semblance and righteous fury over her hair could break through steel barriers with ease. Stopping that kind of attack head-on was unheard of.

A pair of medical staff entered the arena and carried the unconscious girl out for treatment. Though Aura didn't prevent concussions, it was remarkable at helping to recover from them, so Yang would be fit to fight again within the span of a week. Kazuma was funneling his own energy, ki, into his cheek to prevent the swelling from becoming too troublesome. He'd fought with far worse injuries, but the less pain he was in the better.

"Hey Blake?" Ruby asked, her eyes still wide with amazement.

"Yes?"

"How strong are those barriers Kazuma makes?"

"It really depends on how much power he puts into them, but I've never seen something break through unless he was unprepared for the impact. Why?"

"Oh, no reason," Ruby said, far too quickly.

"Very interesting. Ruby, you said his Semblance is Aerokinesis, correct?" Weiss asked with a gleam in her eye.

"Yeah, that's what he told me."

On the outside Weiss just seemed to be evaluating the fight, but her internal state was quite different. Frankly, she was stumped. She wanted to get back at the professor who had forced her to do something so humiliating, in public no less. She was willing to work with Ruby now, though she believed that the girl was an incompetent leader, but that did not excuse Kazuma from his offense. His style didn't leave any significant gaps for her to take advantage of, however, so humiliating him in battle was seemingly impossible.

The Schnee heiress was pulled from her thoughts of revenge by Goodwitch's voice. "Do we have anymore volunteers to fight?" There was murmuring among the students but no hands went up. Kazuma was looking at Blake expectantly but she pretended like she didn't even notice his gaze.

"Well if there are no volunteers we shall select the opponent at random." The board over the heads of the two professors had the image of a slot wheel. The wheel, at a command from Goodwitch's scroll, began to spin, and it landed on the face of. . .

 **Aaand the cliffhanger! Sorry about that but if I went much farther this would be a huge chapter compared to the others. Besides that, who do you guys, the readers, want to see him fight next? I haven't decided the order for the fights yet, though I know what I want to do for certain fights if I were to write them. I'm being really indecisive today lol, so the options are:**

 **Team JNPR (Any member, combination, or the entire team)**

 **Team RWB (Same deal)**

 **Teams CFVY and CRDL aren't included because the former wouldn't be in the same class (second year team) and I have other plans for the latter (insert evil laugh here). Anyway, leave a review with who you would like to see fight, or just telling me what you thought. Bye-bye!**


	11. Chapter 11: Quite the Workout

**Here we go, ladies and gentlemen! The next chapter, and with it some actual effort in a fight on Kazuma's part. Not a lot, but some.**

 **ThePizziaMan: Glad people got the reference. As for Cinder, well, you'll just have to wait and see how that changes things. Will I make them allies, enemies, or something else?**

 **YukkiAsuna-Chan: Don't worry, I only planned to have one more fight in the first place. Hope you enjoy this fight as much as the last.**

 **garoorar: You are very right about Kazuma, he wouldn't LET (notice the emphasis) Pyrrha die like that if he knows about her sacrifice.**

 **Kaioo: Yeah, Yang is definitely going to change because of this, and so will the outcome. I'm getting a better idea of how I want those changes to come together as I write.**

 **Lord Asmodeus: There will still be much shit hitting the fan, that is for sure. Though I'm not familiar with SI stories, this will not be what you described. As much as I tear my heart out when seeing tragedy, that makes it one of the best tools for character development. I will not be using Weiss in that way here, but she still has her part, worry not.**

 **Nosy John: Is it really bashing if that is their actual purpose in the story? CRDL may get better, but they are still bullies and pricks, whose main role was to be beaten by the protagonists. Of course, a writer should not harbor hate toward ANY character they are using and beat on them just for the sake of disliking them, either, you're right on that account. It needs to have a role in the development of the protagonists (see Jaune) or it really is bashing.**

 **LL: I'm pretty sure FanFic mobile is a bit derpy. Personally, I need a way to read these reviews on the go, but that's one of the things I can't access on my phone. I've been thinking about who has more money: Ozpin or Cinder. As Nora once said: "[Ozpin] has a school." He also has the backing of the Vale government (though they tend to disagree with him on some things). But at the same time, Cinder has bought/stolen a large amount of Bullheads, tech, etc. So who knows.**

 **Anyway, the fight has been chosen and written, so enjoy!**

"Fuck." Pyrrha gave Jaune a glare of disapproval for his language but didn't correct him. Jaune was absolutely screwed, seeing as he was Kazuma's next opponent. Kazuma had an extraordinarily bored look on his face at the result. Kazuma was a sensor, so he had felt Jaune's power (and lack thereof) during the initiation and was not impressed.

"Ms. Goodwitch," Kazuma said, "do I even have to fight anymore? Yang was the only one I had an agreement with, after all."

"Mr. Yagami, I allowed your match under the pretense that you would be assisting me for the day, so you will fight until I say otherwise." Kazuma shrugged. Sure, it was more work than he had to do, but he wasn't doing anything better with his time. "Mr. Arc, please come down to the arena."

"Um, Professor Goodwitch, can I surrender now?" Jaune asked weakly. Before she could give an answer, Team JNPR's resident martial artist spoke up.

"Professor Goodwitch, our leader is a tactical expert rather than a combat power. Would it be possible for us to fight as a team? It is a legitimate type of match." The girls of the team nodded eagerly. Honestly, they all wanted to fight Kazuma but knew they had no chance in single combat. The look on Nora's face was one of unbridled excitement, while Pyrrha and Ren were composedly awaiting the answer. Jaune just looked fearful for the condition of his body.

Glynda sent a glance at Kazuma, as if to say 'Your fight, your call.'

"Why not? I don't much like fighting, but if I'm doing it anyway I may as well be challenged."

Relief flooded the blonde boy's features as he heard those words. They sounded like a chorus of angels to him. Jaune was fully aware of his own weakness; it wasn't a matter of pride or self-image. He was not conditioned for battle mentally or physically. He was determined to train and better himself, but he had barely started and didn't want to embarrass himself in front of so many people.

With the permission granted, all four members of Team JNPR descended to the floor of the arena. They created a semi-circle around their opponent, who looked as casual as ever. Once again Glynda hooked up the Aura of the fighters and asked them if they were ready. She got nods from all five.

"Begin!"

Nora was the first to move, shooting a grenade right off the bat. The explosion dissipated harmlessly on Kazuma's kekkai, but the smoke covered his field of view. Using this moment of distraction, Pyrrha and Ren flanked Kazuma on Jaune's orders. As soon as the smoke cleared the two more disciplined fighters launched themselves at the mage, who was still standing there.

He ducked below Milo but was only saved from StormFlower by his barrier. He grabbed the amazon's extended arm, twisted, and pivoted behind her, putting her in a joint lock. She wasn't about to be trapped so easily, however, and brought her other arm back for an elbow strike. Kazuma caught it and pushed her into Ren, who had been attempting to take advantage of the man's extended stance. The pair went tumbling, but Nora redeemed her teammates by bringing Magnhild's hammer form down on Kazuma, who was forced to repel it with a strong blast of wind. The violence-loving girl was thrown backwards, directly into the wall of the stadium. Meanwhile, Pyrrha and Ren had gotten back up and were ready to resume the attack.

The next minute was a flurry of slashes and stabs from Pyrrha, along with plenty of covering fire from Ren. The young woman adeptly switched Milo from sword to spear throughout her onslaught, forcing Kazuma to build barrier after barrier for defense. He wasn't going to trust his kekkai to take care of both the bullets and the spear, however confident he was in himself. Kazuma was caught with his pants down as Jaune moved behind Pyrrha, coordinating with her for a scissor-like attack utilizing both weapons. Kazuma deflected both blades with some difficulty and fled backwards on an air current to gain some distance. In an unexpected show of tactical thinking, the three had forced Kazuma to retreat. Nora had removed herself from the wall and joined the others, who were getting ready for the next assault.

The lone fighter scratched his head and let out a long sigh as he reinforced the kekkai around his person while he had the chance. "Well, fighting weapon users barehanded is a real pain in the ass, so I guess I'll use that thing," he said aloud, confusing both his opponents and the crowd.

"Professor, you can't leave to claim your weapon in the middle of the match," Pyrrha said, dropping her guard slightly.

"Who said I was leaving?" was Kazuma's response. To the shock of the crowd, he clasped his hands together, and as he pulled them apart a long, black rod appeared between his hands. As he extended them, one hand broke off and grabbed the handle, pulling it the rest of the way out of Kazuma's body.

The weapon in question was proven to be a two-yard spear, the weapon's black shaft giving way to a simple yet deadly silver tip. Gasps were heard from the crowd as they witnessed Kazuma's miraculous feat.

"Kokusen, the Hurricane Pike. My weapon, linked directly to my Semblance."

As if that explained everything, Kazuma stopped talking and switched his grip on the weapon so that he was using only one arm. The tip was pointed at the ground, with the shaft parallel to his arm. His form was natural but completely unsuited to the weapon.

Unsure of how to approach the man, Team JNPR stood back and prepared themselves for whatever they would face. Kazuma lazily raised Kokusen and thrust it in their directions, sending out five blades of wind at about half the speed of sound. Jaune and Pyrrha were barely able to defend their teammates from the flurry using their shields. Kazuma began to rain blades onto the team faster and faster, pinning them down as he slowly approached.

Once he was within three feet of the protectors he halted the hail of attacks and lashed out with his spear. Pyrrha touched the weapon and attempted to change its course, but was was shocked to find that there was absolutely no response. She was pushed back slightly as the blade of the spear bit into her Aura, then retaliated with a stab of her own. Kazuma received it and parried, but was too late to respond to an attack from Jaune. The chop into Kazuma's side was completely blocked by the kekkai, however, and the boy was batted away by the shaft of Kokusen.

To give his allies time to recover, Ren engaged Kazuma with martial arts, being the only one who had even the slightest chance in such close-range combat. Kazuma thrust at him, but Ren slipped past it and into Kazuma's guard to deliver an Aura-loaded palm strike to the chest. Unfortunately for Ren, the advantage to Kazuma's strange usage of the spear was that he still had a hand open with which to deliver a ki-laden strike to the younger man's elbow, sending the thrust wildly off to the side and injuring the arm.

Nora ran to Pyrrha, remembering a tactic they had used against the Deathstalker on the bridge. The two girls exchanged a glance that communicated everything they needed to say, and Pyrrha held up Akouo. Nora launched herself toward her teammate riding atop Magnhild, and boosted off of the shield for an overhead strike against the professor. He attempted to block it with another wind barrier, but Nora fired to increase the power of her strike, breaking through the hastily made defense. She slammed into Kazuma's head which, although a large amount of the force was absorbed by the winds surrounding him, blew him backwards.

Kazuma rolled and knelt down, using his spear as support. The blow hadn't done much direct damage, but his sense of balance was a bit off from the knockback. He was starting to have some real difficulty here. On one hand he didn't want to reveal his tricks to Glynda and the students, but on the other he was starting to tire and holding back wasn't helping that. Trying to spar with weaker opponents rather than finishing them outright was harder than one might think. Given the prior information, he could either finish this up now and reveal a little of his power, or continue the way he was and deal damage to Team JNPR over time. Both had a downside, so he went for the one that saved him the most effort.

"Alright kids, you did pretty well," he stated. Once the words were out of his mouth he stood with both hands on the spear, holding it horizontally. He slid his hands to the center of the shaft and began to spin Kokusen. Once he had built up sufficient momentum, the wind in the arena became incredibly violent, pulled into the center of the rotation and shot out as a funnel toward the four teens. They were essentially staring down a tornado from the bottom of the funnel. None of them could react as they were picked up by the violent winds and were thrown against the wall. The tornado ground into them for a few seconds, ripping their Auras to shreds, before Kazuma halted the spear and the winds died. It was only then that the extent of the damage could be seen by the crowd.

The floor where the funnel had been was now a trench, about a foot deep in the center, and the walls and floor of the entire arena had developed deep scars. It was as if some great beast had gone into a frenzy, clawing at every available surface before charging directly down the path between Kazuma and the wall Team JNPR was currently collapsed against. They just lay there like so many mannequins, their Auras nearly broken. A few moments passed before the medical team once again entered the arena. Three of the team members had been knocked out, leaving Jaune as the only conscious student. Before he was taken away, Kazuma gave him a nod, signifying that the boy had fought well, all things considered.

Once the arena was empty of the losers, Glynda came back down to ground level. Apparently she had run up into the stands when she saw the funnel start to form. "Mr. Yagami, congratulations on your victory. However, I would appreciate it if my arena were left mostly intact after each fight."

"Sorry about that, might have gotten a little carried away. Anyway, am I done yet?"

She gave him a disapproving look. "I don't know why you bothered coming with that attitude, but yes. Class will be ending soon, so you may leave or have a seat while I give the students some final words for the day."

"Cool. I'll see ya around," he said as he walked off, waving to her and the students lazily. Excited whispers began as soon as he left the room, chief among them being Weiss' voice.

"I can't believe he beat Pyrrha, and her whole team, so easily. If the Untouchable Girl was tossed around like branch in a windstorm, what chance would we have?"

"Ah come on Weiss, he's a Huntsman! Of course he's strong. And the way he fought with that spear was so cool! I've never seen anyone use one quite like that," Ruby retorted

"I suppose. I guess the gap between ourselves and trained Huntsmen is just that large." Weiss hung her head a little, her pride trying to cope with the fact that there were people out there that were so much stronger than her. He'd displayed strength and skill far beyond what she had ever seen before. Even Winter had never shown such absolute control of a battle.

Blake saw her teammate's self esteem issue coming and decided to nip the problem in the bud. "I wouldn't put it that way, you two. Kazuma's much stronger than an average Huntsman."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Kazuma's never shown off his full power. I don't know how many people on Remnant could defeat him if he were serious, but at the very least Goodwitch wouldn't be able to stop him."

"Whoa, really? How good is he with that spear? Does it do anything else, or transform?" the red hooded girl asked excitedly.

"Couldn't say, that's the first time I've seen it," Blake answered, going back to a book she had brought.

"Well," Weiss began, "if he's that powerful I suppose there's no use in comparing with him. Anyone would feel inferior. I still dislike him, though."

Goodwitch's voice broke into their little conversation. "Alright class, what you have all just seen was the power of a full-fledged Huntsman. Though not all Huntsmen are able to fight at Mr. Yagami's level, I hope you were paying attention to his style and attacks, and making note of any ways in which your own movements could be improved and any weaknesses that may be exploited. You are dismissed."

The students began to file out of the arena, a less-than-whole Team RWBY included. They had one more class to attend for the day, then they were done. Unfortunately for Weiss, the class was Physical Conditioning, a class where all students were made to exercise in some way so as to build their speed and power. Her fighting style was graceful, flowing, and technical. So why, for the love of Oum, why was she being forced to work out? She understood the necessity of training the body, but working out and running were not for her. Ruby was a runner, Yang weightlifted anyway, and Blake just took the whole thing in stride, making Weiss the only one who really suffered. But she had no choice in the matter so she didn't complain. Much.

So the girls changed into spare clothes, and during the next two hours they trained their bodies. Ruby took advantage of the class' treadmills as she always did. The girl always wanted to be faster. She had discovered long ago that with her small frame, building muscle wasn't going to help her as much with Crescent Rose as building speed. Sure she would be able to swing harder if she weightlifted, but it was easier to build up speed and cut straight through a Grimm than to hack at it. That's not to say she didn't do her time with the weights, since her scythe was still heavy as sin, but she wasn't nearly as focused on them.

Blake was mostly using the gymnastics equipment. Her style was all about quick reflexes and flexibility, so it was an ideal way to train. She also spent a fair amount of time at the training dummies since, unlike Ruby, she could actually swing her weapon indoors without decapitating anyone or putting holes in the wall. There were quite a few dummies and punching bags, some for martial arts and others for weapon practice. The hand-to-hand dummies were relatively unused because only Yang, Ren, and a second-year student named Fox ever fought with their bare hands, at least to her knowledge. She'd thought about learning from Kazuma at one point, but he would make her pay through the nose.

Weiss was also spending her time with the dummies, mostly because there wasn't anything else for her to do. Her frame had been honed by fencing, which wasn't something she could do here. Not to mention that she had less stamina than her other team members, so constant exercise would make her collapse.

Were Yang here, she'd be taking the stuffing out of the punching bags and making the Coach grab more weights for her. That girl could lift a few hundred pounds on an off day. Fortunately for all of the men in the room, Yang was in no condition to make them feel insignificant after her match. Which is why her three teammates had agreed to visit her and see if she was awake after class. It was possible that the girl was still knocked out, but they felt it was right to go check on her one way or another.

So after returning to the dorms and changing back into their nice clothes, the three made their way down to the nurse's office. They saw a middle-aged woman sitting behind the front desk and approached her.

"Excuse me, we're here to see Yang. Is she awake?" Ruby announced for all of them.

"Oh, are you her teammates? Right this way," she gestured and walked down a short corridor. She giggled into her hand as they entered the back room where patients slept. "That girl really is popular. First that young man, now you three."

"Young man?" Weiss asked, curious as to who else had visited the blonde.

"Yes, that's right, he's in there now. She's in the bed at the end. She has a concussion and needs her rest, so please keep the visit brief."

 **I know, I know, another cut in the middle. I plan to have the next chapter out pretty soon though, hopefully by Wednesday night. It shouldn't take a detective to determine who's there with Yang, but why he's there is the better question. Also, what do you guys think about the fights? I try to keep them quick and dirty while maintaining the flow of action, but let me know if anything seems off so I can improve. You know how reviews work, so I'll just say goodbye for now!**


	12. Chapter 12: Tension

**Well this one was a pain in the ass to write. Still not sure how well I did on it, we'll see. Let's get down to business.**

 **xbox432 & GJO1088: Jaune manages to tank so much damage from time to time that I'm left thinking that the guy's skin is rock. Seriously, to be beaten on by a Deathstalker and an Ursa Major without serious injury? That shouldn't happen.**

 **garoorar: It's implied in the LN that Kokusen can be stored in the body much like Enraiha, assuming the owner is wielding it. Since the spear binds to him every time he picks it up, I assume that means he becomes the owner.**

 **thenotes146: In the LN the spear is not Kazuma's, but it does appear. It is the Treasure of Wind, just as Enraiha is the Treasure of Fire. I mentioned the transfer of ownership back in Chapter 7, though it might have been easy to glance over since the spear itself hadn't been introduced yet.**

 **Durmanstainer: I will not be nerfing Kazuma in the slightest. Remember that he isn't just from a universe that is stronger than this one. In fact, Aura and Semblances, as a whole, can be argued to be stronger than Spirit Magic. But Kazuma is the Contractor; his power comes from a literal God. Being OP is inherent to his character, like if Superman were a smartass bastard. Also, if I had planned on doing any nerfing I would have done it in the beginning, not wait this long.**

 **JinzoMask656: There will be a pairing when I decide that the relationships have developed enough. The foundations are being laid, it will just take a little time.**

The girls went over to the bed by the wall and opened the curtain. Before them was a scene none of them had been expecting. Yang was sitting up in bed, her eyes red and a snarl on her face. She was leaning over another guest who was, indeed, a young man. The same one who had landed her in the nurse's office in the first place, actually: Kazuma Yagami. Her hand was gripping his collar and her fist was cocked back. He was just staring her down, a hard but neutral look. He wasn't making any move to guard himself or fight back, which only served to make the situation even more tense.

"What the hell did you just say, bastard?" Yang growled.

"I said you should give up on it. Search all you like, you aren't likely to find her. Even if you do, what is there to find? She abandoned you; you think you can have a touching reunion and pretend she never left? I'm stopping you for your own good." His voice wasn't spiteful, just a matter of fact statement.

"SHUT UP! WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" Yang brought her fist forward, intending to turn Kazuma's head into dust.

"Yang!" The sudden shout caused the blonde to halt. Ruby was looking at her sister with wide, watery eyes. The others were equally surprised. They both knew that Yang had an explosive temper, but she seemed ready to kill their professor.

"Ruby, nice of you to stop in." Kazuma's sarcastic change of subject only served to further fuel Yang's rage.

"I'm giving you one chance to take it all back, _Professor_ , before I hit you so hard nothing will be left for your family to find." Yang's threat had an effect on the man, but not the one she had expected. He returned his full attention to her, challenge in his eyes.

"Go ahead, little girl. Like it or not, she's gone, and you need to get over it. She's the one at fault; don't go crawling back!" Kazuma yelled the last sentence, his voice slightly raw with emotion.

Her pupils shrank. Letting out a primal scream, Yang brought her fist down on Kazuma, killing intent pouring off of her in abundance. The three other girls winced as they heard an impact. When they opened their eyes they were expecting Kazuma to be on the ground, bleeding, with his jaw and skull in so many pieces no doctor would ever be able to fix him.

Instead, they saw Yang's fist stopped barely a centimeter from his nose. She was competing for ground against a barrier of wind, so strong as to be easily visible. Kazuma himself hadn't moved in the slightest. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was set in a line. He sighed and shook his head. "You have a lot to learn. We'll talk again when you see sense." The wind barrier expanded and pushed Yang back into her bed. He left the room with a muttered goodbye to the team. Once he was gone the girls rushed over to comfort (and contain) their teammate.

"Yang, what happened? Are you mad he beat you?" Ruby asked.

"Of course not!" Yang's harsh voice made Ruby flinch back. The reaction was a bit of a wake up call for Yang, who forced herself to calm down before speaking again. "I just. . . I can't talk about it. Could you leave me alone for a while, Rubes?"

Ruby hesitated. She was afraid for her sister, and it was visible in her eyes. Ruby's face was very expressive, so anyone could tell that she didn't want to leave Yang's side when her sister was so clearly upset. But Ruby didn't know what to do about it, either. If Yang wouldn't talk about it, how could Ruby help? The younger girl nodded and Weiss did the same. Both walked out of the room.

Yang gave Blake a long look. "I want to be alone. You can understand that, can't you?"

"I can. I also understand that Kazuma is a jackass. But I've never seen him that serious, nor do I think you would take his head off for his usual behavior." The ravenette had her arms crossed and her feet set, indicating that she wasn't going to move until she got an answer.

There was a long silence during which both strong-willed girls stared each other down. After half a minute of silence Yang finally broke down and began sobbing. It was the last thing Blake had been expecting. Still, she composed herself and sat on the bed by her partner's side, letting Yang know she was there.

"I-I woke up and he was sitting there." The blonde was speaking between sobs and heavy breaths, but tried to keep her voice as level as possible. "He was ch-checking on me, he said. Wanted to know h-how bad I'd been hurt. Started teasing me, saying I was 0-2 now. We laughed, no hard feelings, right?" She had managed to stop the waterworks but her breath was still heavy and a mixture of tears and snot caked her face. Blake took a corner of the bedsheets and wiped it away. Yang gave the other girl a small smile before continuing.

"Then he asked about the time I went to Junior's. I told you about that, I think. Wanted to know what I was trying to get out of the guy. He knew I was looking for someone, wanted to know who. I wouldn't tell him, so he pressured me until I cracked. I just. . . I didn't expect Kazuma to be so heartless. He told me to stop looking. Told me it was pointless, that if she didn't want to be found, she must not care." There was a long pause. "Maybe that's true, but I've still gotta try, don't I?"

Blake was a bit confused and quite worried. "Yang, I don't understand. Kazuma's a jerk, but he wouldn't say something like that normally. Who are you looking for?" Her partner was silent. "Yang, I can't help you if you don't tell me. Out of everyone here, I've known Kazuma the longest. Maybe I can talk some sense into him for you. But I can't do anything if I don't know the whole story."

Another silence. Yang glanced over to her partner several times, yet refused to look her in the eyes. Blake didn't say a word, opting instead to wait and see what Yang would do. She sat back and put her hand on Yang's, trying not to be confrontational. After two minutes or so there was a slight mumble. ". . . ther."

Blake faced Yang again, but the blonde was staring at her lap. "Tell me, Yang."

Yang looked sidelong at the other girl. She had come this far, so she may as well say it. "My. . . mother. I'm looking for my mother."

"Wait, what? I thought your mother was dead." Ruby had mentioned it once, after initiation. She said something about how happy their mother would be if she were still around.

"Summer is dead, yeah. But I'm not Summer's daughter."

It was a stunning revelation. Blake tried to process all the implications of what she had just heard, and made a few connections. She remembered something Kazuma had told her, before she came to Beacon. She sighed, realizing what the hell her previous partner had been thinking

"I get it now," she sighed out. Really, why was Kazuma so tactless?

"Get what?" Yang asked, a bit depressed now that the anger had faded.

"It's not my place to say, but I think you need to hear this. Kazuma's family name is Yagami, right?" Yang nodded, unaware of where this was going. "His last name used to be Kannagi."

"So what? He changed his name, or got married and took his wife's name. It's uncommon, but not impossible."

Blake shook her head. "He was abandoned, Yang. Thrown out of his family. They all had control over fire, and he was the next in line to become head of the family. He didn't display any power at all, though; his Semblance didn't even awaken until after he'd been kicked out. They attacked him or ignored him. And when he lost the right to the family's inheritance, he was finally disowned. His father cast him aside and his mother showed no compassion. His family, the people who were supposed to love and protect him, abandoned him. Even when he came back, they treated him like some lesser being. He finally made his peace, but it took years of pain and uncertainty."

Yang began to understand why she was being told all this. "You're saying he was trying to help me?"

Blake nodded in way of reply. "I can't say I agree with what he told you, but I'd guess that's what he's thinking."

A beat passed before Blake spoke again. "Look, Kazuma isn't the most empathetic person. But he's trying to stop you from feeling the same pain he did. Just don't hate him for it." With that said, she patted Yang's hand and got up. She went to walk away but heard Yang speak up again.

"Thanks, Blake."

"We're partners; I'm sure you'll pay me back one day." The girl in black walked out, leaving Yang to her thoughts. Hopefully those thoughts weren't about murdering Kazuma anymore.

Yang was discharged from the nurse's office that evening, with a strict warning not to fight for another week and a half, sparring included. She was also given some medication for the pain and dizziness that was sure to occur. Aura accelerated the healing process, but by no means would the symptoms of her concussion be pleasant.

She was walking through the courtyard, heading back to the dorms to be with her team, when she heard someone talking on their Scroll. She glanced around quickly and spied Kazuma leaning against a tree, not paying the outside world any attention. She was too far away to make out the conversation, but he has a bit disgruntled if the downward curve of his lips was any indication. He hung up the call and gave a great sigh.

It might not have been the ideal time, but she needed to clear up what happened in the infirmary. He turned to face her as she approached, a wary glint in his eyes.

"Professor Yagami, sir."

"What is it, Yang? I'm not in the mood to play around with you right now."

She flinched at the hardness in his voice but continued with all the determination she could muster. "It's about what you said earlier." She'd given his words, and his intentions, more thought in the past few hours than most people would give to their life decisions. The same could be said about her response. After all, this was important to her, more so than anything else.

The air around them became heavier, as if Kazuma's disapproval were bearing down on her body and soul. "And? Have you finally realized what you're doing?"

"I knew all along. I know that there might be disappointment at the end of it all. I might even discover that she never wanted me in the first place; that to her, I'm nothing more than an inconvenience to her." She had to hold back the choking sensation that came up at the admission of one of her deepest-held fears.

"But. . . I have to know what she thinks. If she doesn't want me, I'll deal with it then. I doubt I'll get any smiles and hugs, but I still have to know. I know that you're trying to protect me, but I don't want or need protection Oum damnit!"

"So you would foolishly search for her, with no leads to speak of and no idea of the dangers, just on the chance that maybe she won't consider you a complete mistake?"

His words hurt like hell. It summarized her situation pretty well, really, and she knew it. It didn't mean that she would relent. "Profes. . . Kazuma. Have you ever had something that you had to do? No matter how pointless it seemed to someone else, no matter how dangerous or stupid it was?"

Kazuma was didn't speak for a few seconds, which she took as a signal to keep going. "That's how I feel. Ruby's mother, the woman who raised me, is dead. She's never coming back. Then, imagine how it felt to know that my mother, my REAL mother, was still out there somewhere. That for some reason she had left my father and me by ourselves. That she never took care of myself or Ruby. She may just be a terrible person. She abandoned me, but there has to be a reason!"

The reply was cold and harsh. "And if the reason is that she hates you? That she never wanted you and refused to take care of her own child? What then?"

"Then I'll finally know! Then I can hate her right back!" Yang's eyes were orbs of crimson now. "I'll have the closure I need! If I never find out what happened to her or why she left us, I'll always be wondering. I'll go mad, Kazuma. I don't care if you agree with what I'm doing or not. I don't care about the risk involved. Please, just don't get in my way."

Kazuma's presence went from intimidating to absolutely soul-crushing. Yang's breath became hitched, and her body wanted to collapse on the ground. She resisted the best she could, but was forced to hunch over a bit. Still she met his eyes. His glare could freeze fire, and she met it with one which could melt permafrost. The pair of warriors - for that is what they were at the moment - stared at each other for what was only a few minutes but felt like a lifetime to the young girl.

Kazuma closed his eyes and sighed heavily, releasing the tension in the air. When he opened them they were no less disapproving but significantly less chilling. "I still think you're a fool."

"Think whatever you want. Just don't get in my way."

Kazuma waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, sure, whatever." Then he muttered something to himself in Japanese.

"What?" Yang asked, not recognizing the extinct language.

Shaking his head, he looked away from the hotheaded brawler. "Nothing. Just thinking about how similar you were to the last person to stand up to me like that. Give you light red hair and a little bit of Weiss' tsundere act and I'd be convinced she followed me to Beacon."

"Oh? Who was she?"

"Nobody you have to know about. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with Ozpin in five minutes, and I don't want to be late because a fiery fool of a girl decided to abandon her senior's advice." Kazuma walked off, leaving Yang with more questions than answers.

"At least he won't be getting in the way anymore. Maybe I'll ask Blake to tell me about the girl," Yang mused. Dirt on the unflappable Kazuma would be information well worth having. She thought about it for a second and laughed aloud as she headed toward the dorms once more. She had tried to tease Blake by getting information from Kazuma, and now she wanted to know about Kazuma's personal life from Blake. There was a certain ridiculousness about it, wasn't there?

 **So I've never written an emotional chapter like this before, let me know what you think. Thank you everyone for reading, and I wish you all a good day/evening (depending on when you read this).**


	13. Chapter 13: Club Scene

**First of all, so sorry for not updating in a while. The course-load right before spring break had been absolutely crushing me. Add to that a general mood slump, writer's block, and one collapse from dehydration/fatigue, and you get an idea of why. But I'm here, I'm alive, and I've got a new chapter for you all.**

 **necrofantasia: Yang has some serious temper issues, and that heavily contributes to her attitude in the finale, so I wanted to make it a bit more prevalent than it was (not that we didn't always recognize her hot temper).**

 **GJO1088: A meeting between Taiyang and Kazuma. . . that would be violent, to say the least. And his feelings toward Raven at this point are less than amicable.**

 **LL: There will definitely be more Cinder interaction, though not this chapter. But soon.**

 **Lord Asmodeus: Yang may have gotten Kazuma's grudging approval, but the issue is still eating at her. She is no closer to finding Raven, so the turbulence is still there to look forward to. As for Kazuma himself, he does display quite a bit of emotion in the LN about this subject, so I figured it fit here. Though my writing probably could have integrated it better.**

 **Just a few more things before we continue. I'd like to welcome** **The Baz** **to this story, writer of** ** _The White Mask, The KINGs Men_** **, and Beacon's** ** _New Sensei_** **, which are all favorites of mine. Good to see ya. He also has plenty of other good stuff which I haven't had much chance to read as well, so go check him out.**

 **A note on pairings, just because there were a lot of questions/comments about it in the reviews: Kazuma will be paired with someone. It will not be Yang or Ruby. A pairing does not mean he will not flirt (and do other things beyond) with other girls. He's a womanizer in both the anime and LN, even admitting to having casual sex with Kirika in the latter, though he may have been just screwing with Ayano when he said it. Now that all of that's out of the way, let's get a move on, shall we?**

"Alright Ozpin, let's hear it," Kazuma demanded. He was currently standing in Ozpin's office while the headmaster himself sat back sipping the ever-present mug of coffee. "What kind of job was so urgent that it couldn't wait until morning?"

"A word about other matters, first. I understand you had an issue with one of the students today, is that correct?" The younger man nodded, prompting a follow-up. "I see. What was the cause, if I may ask?"

"Nothing I feel the need to talk about with you. Ask Yang if you want, doubt she really wants it brought up either though. We've cleared the air, so to speak, so it shouldn't be an issue. Now are you going to tell me what you called me up here for?"

The elder of the two sighed, knowing that he was pushing his luck already. Kazuma was patient most of the time but the irritation was clear in his voice. Something was irritating Kazuma but Ozpin had the social grace not question it. After all, the headmaster was sitting in front of one of the very few men who could possibly stand against him in battle and win. So he opted to simply get to the task at hand and observe his pet project as time went on. "Very well. We have intel suggesting White Fang dealings here in Vale, including smuggling and theft. They are supposedly very well armed and protected by the organization's soldiers, and as such the nature of this particular cell has proven very difficult to determine. After observing your sensory capabilities, it was decided you would be given the task of investigating further."

An eyebrow slowly raised on the younger man's face. "Just an information collection mission?"

"Yes. You are to report in details of their numbers, the strength of the enemy force, and what supplies they may have, reporting back to myself. In turn, I will hand the information over to the police and either have them deal with the situation accordingly or send out a group of Huntsman to clear the area." Ozpin's eyes narrowed and his mouth was set in a line as he continued. "By no means are you to engage the enemy, Professor. Is that clear?"

Kazuma waved a hand lazily, and returned the white-haired man's gaze with a lax expression. "I understand, I understand. I'll be in and out before they see a thing. That all you have for me?"

The older teacher relaxed back into his seat, though still not convinced his agent wasn't going to ruin this somehow. "Indeed. Make sure you aren't detected. Gunfire in the streets is the last thing anyone wishes to hear."

"Gotcha," was the only reply as Kazuma opened the elevator and descended. Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose, right between the eyes, where he could feel a headache coming on. In all the conversations he'd endured with the carefree man, Kazuma had never been quite this cooperative. It was probably far too much to hope that the wind mage's mood had suddenly improved, wasn't it?

* * *

It was amazing what one could see when walking the streets of Vale late at night, it truly was. From the drunks stumbling past to the brightly lit clubs, it all gave an aura of life to the city. An aura which Kazuma was quite used to and could even be said to thrive in. After all, a man of low moral standards such as himself could only benefit from an environment where vices and baser instincts came together to create a beautiful form of art known as nightlife.

After passing quite a few smaller bars, several dozen young women who tried to flag him down, and the occasional idiot too drunk to fight a child but also too drunk to realize it, the mage found what he was looking for. The doors had been renovated after Yang's little stunt a few months ago but the sign made it clear that he was in the right place: The Club. Kazuma hadn't been to Junior's place since. . . well pretty much since he had started working for Ozpin. Seriously, was it so much to ask for to make time between missions and teaching for a little fun? He'd been on two missions in as many days, and before that he'd been stuck either watching students or handling paperwork.

The bouncer was one of the men present when Kazuma had first gone into the place, and as soon as he recognized the unassuming force of nature walking toward him he opened the door as quickly as possible. Anyone who had been around for that introduction did not want a repeat performance.

Inside, the place was much the same as ever. Dancers moving to the beat of the music, the security staff lounging around with their weapons out. Completely for show of course since none of them could deal with a real threat, but they kept most people in line. At the bar sat Junior with the Malachite twins to his left, so Kazuma lowered himself down onto the stool.

"Vacuo Heatstroke. Keep 'em coming." Noticing the unusual but familiar order being made next to him, Junior snapped his attention to the young man making it.

"There aren't many people who even realize we stock that stuff, let alone anyone crazy enough to drink it. How've you been, Kazuma?"

"Not bad," the wind user replied. "Got a stable job."

"Oh? That got anything to do with why you haven't been around so often?"

"Yeah, it keeps me busy as hell but the money's hard to pass up. How's business?"

A feminine voice answered from right behind him, not that he was surprised. "It would be better if you came around more often, handsome." Melanie proceeded to wrap her arms around his neck, leaning forward to push her chest into his back and whispering in his ear: "We've missed you, you know."

Unfazed, the object of Melanie's teasing reached out with his left hand to grab the shot glass of faintly orange liquid. Vacuo Heatstroke was Kazuma's favorite brand of liquor and a damn strong one. Technically it was a wine since it was made from Dust-infused berries growing in the Vacuo Desert, but he couldn't seem to recall any wines back on Earth that were 130 proof and could put grown men on their backs with each sip. Miltia pulled up beside him and ran a hand down his other arm, clawed gloves thankfully not present. "We've been lonely here without you."

He brought the glass up to his lips and downed the shot, savoring the sweetness and the burning sensation as they passed down his throat. "Sorry girls. Haven't had a whole lot of free time lately. I'll try to drop by some more, see if there isn't time for a little fun. Sound good?" Kazuma had on his best smile, the best part being that he didn't have to force himself. He honestly enjoyed their attempts at flirting with him. They weren't trying to tie him down, and the back and forth could be soothing.

"We'll be holding you to it, Whirlwind." Melanie used the nickname they had come up with about three months back, and ever since it had become the default way of addressing him. They had said Kazuma 'blew in, caused whatever chaos he wanted to, and blew right back out. Free as the wind but as destructive as a storm.' He couldn't deny it, seeing as he had nearly destroyed the entire building when he first came in, then left without a care in the world, only stopping in when he wanted to have some fun or felt like getting drunk.

Of course, Melanie was thinking about the second reason for the nickname, the one they didn't talk about with others around. They were both attracted to Kazuma, which was weird in and of itself considering how high their standards were. Kazuma was attractive, nobody was questioning that, but he wasn't a model. Yet being around him was exhilarating for the two, like standing in the eye of a storm with the air swirling around them. The feeling was subtle, and if you weren't around him often it was an easy thing to play off as a trick of one's mind. Hell, it had taken the pair of young women weeks just to confirm it. When they were convinced that they weren't just being silly, a scheme to get Kazuma superiorly drunk was laid out. What they had been expecting as they urged him to take one shot after another was his control slipping, the power becoming more and more pronounced.

The plan went off without a hitch, though the amount of alcohol Kazuma had managed to down was slightly staggering, and by the end of it everyone inside The Club was aware of Kazuma's presence. People said that their instincts were a dull thing, that as they became more civilized and less in tune with nature they lost the ability to sense power and danger. People like Kazuma, however, proved that some of that instinct was still there, however diluted. Fighters like the twins were slightly more aware of it, having honed their instincts in order to predict attacks and sense danger, but when the power was potent enough it could be felt by even those most out of touch with their primal feelings.

Melanie had become instantly addicted to the feeling and Miltia wasn't much better. Lesser men ran in fear while season warriors began itching for the chance to fight. Kazuma, when he stopped containing his energy altogether, was much like a force of nature, invigorating and terrifying at the same time. Of course, most of the customers hadn't been able to handle it all, their sixth senses overloading and causing them to black out. Anyone with an unlocked Aura or a decent amount of combat training, however, was able to admire force of his simple existence.

Melanie was broken out of her reverie by a quick tap on the arm from her sister, who nodded her head toward the two men.

"So let me get this straight, Yagami. You took a job working for Ozpin, one of the most influential men in Vale. Said job involves teaching kids how to blow things up using Dust and turning their Auras into perfect weapons, and on top of all that you caught Torchwick and turned him in for the bounty. All since the last time you've been here?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Kazuma downed another shot, his fourth by the number of glasses on the table. Kazuma got drunk much more slowly than most people but even he had to be a bit tipsy with a few of those in his system. "By the way, turns out that blonde girl who tried to turn you into a woman is a student there. So yeah, I wouldn't piss her off again if I were you."

The bearded man started rubbing a temple as Melanie moved from her position behind Kazuma to his lap, a change he didn't mind if the widening grin on his face was any indication. She was face to face with him as he took another shot.

"This seat's not taken, is it?" She purred.

"Not at all, beautiful women are always welcome. Too bad it isn't wide enough for two, but if you don't mind taking turns. . ." Kazuma said with a low tone, carrying just far enough for the other girl to hear. He had enough alcohol in him by now that the control on his presence was beginning to waver. Miltia blushed slightly and moved her body closer while Melanie turned to straddle him, licking her lips sensually.

"Could you not seduce my actual security," Junior deadpanned, "especially during business hours? And could you girls not act like horny teenagers in front of customers?" He was looking at them all with an unreadable expression. Kazuma's features shifted only slightly to signal his disappointment at having the fun broken up. In contrast, the sisters were glaring death at their boss. He took the hint and shut up immediately. Both girls sighed as they realized that the opportunity was gone, Melanie slowly disembarking Kazuma's lap. "Maybe next time we'll take you up on that offer."

"See you around Whirlwind," Miltia whispered as she passed, a finger brushing the man's neck. Kazuma watched them admiringly as they walked toward the staircase which led to the upper balcony. Another drink went down, his sixth. . . or maybe seventh, he wasn't sure because the bartender had begun refilling the existing glasses.

"So, out with it," Junior demanded. The other man's questioning look begged further explanation, whether because he was doing it on purpose or had too much to drink the owner really didn't care. "You had some business besides just coming here and getting drunk, didn't you? What did you want to know?"

"Picked up on that, did you? Got a mission from Ozzy to investigate some White Fang operations downtown here. I could search on my own but it'd be faster if you know anything about it."

There was a bit of hesitation in Junior's face which he didn't even try to hide. "White Fang? Look, I may know a lot about what goes on but I try not to screw with them if I can help it. Sorry, but you're barking up the wrong tree." The moment he finished speaking he felt the other man's gaze like a promise of pain.

"You know what goes on in this city, Junior. I'm asking nicely what you know about the operation, so I suggest you answer me before I drop the pretenses."

"Kazuma, there's really not much I can tell you. They have a base on the southeast side of downtown. Couple of my boys went out that way and saw the masks, but I can't give you an exact location. By the looks of it they've got some runners going in and out of the area, probably smugglers."

"That's all you know?" The drunken man asked rhetorically. "Kami, what a shame to information dealers you are." So saying he took one more shot, left enough to cover the drinks on the counter along with a small tip for the bartender, and left the building.

Once he was gone, Junior's shoulders slumped in relief. "Oum that man is frightening. Sometimes I swear he can't be from this world."

 **So there we have it. A setup chapter, and hopefully over break I'll be able to get a few more out to you guys. "Hope" being the key word, considering I also have a 7-10 page research paper due the day I go back on the 21st and other assignments besides, but hey, I'll try. I've made some assumptions about the effects of uncontrolled ki here, recalling book 2 of the LN. That's about it, let me know what you think and see ya around.**


	14. Chapter 14: Closed Doors

**So, after much writing, rewriting, and second guessing, here is the next chapter.**

 **To address the question about Kazuma's presence** **** **as mentioned in The Club presented by garoorar:**

 **The people at Beacon aren't really aware of what they are feeling from Kazuma. The only people at Beacon who really understand the feeling Kazuma puts off are Ozpin and Glynda, who have felt something similar in the Maidens. Everyone has a presence** **, the general feeling they put off. Kazuma's is just unnaturally strong because of his powerful ki, which is also what allows him to influence people (i.e. his intimidation trick). The twins noticed because Kazuma, at Junior's, would often be drunk and therefore his will would be more erratic. Otherwise, the feeling is only something people become consciously** **aware of when he's using large amounts of power or if he's focusing specifically on pressuring someone. Like the twins said, even while he was drinking they originally thought it was their minds playing tricks on them.**

 **Blinded in a bolthole: There's a lot of fan theories about that, I suggest you check them out if you wish to learn more about the subject. There's one I specifically subscribe to, but without cannon proof I dare not say.**

 **xxOblivionxxx: Remember that Kazuma very rarely fights at full power, and when caught off guard has almost died to both Ayano and the Dragon youkai that took over Misao.**

 **GJO1088: The twins will play a slightly bigger role here than they did in the show, as I feel they present an almost blank canvas with how little they appear.**

'This is the White Fang's base of operations? I expected something more,' Kazuma mused as he looked down on the old apartment building. Vale's southeastern corner was a mostly residential district, with a lot of old and and abandoned buildings as one moved away from the commercial district. This was one of the oldest parts of the city, vacated in favor of the nicer construction closer to the river, where the streets were nicer and the buildings were more comfortable. In the future, this part of the residential district was due for major renovations to accommodate more people as Vale's population grew and businesses expanded.

For now, however, the area was full of back alleys and narrow streets. The buildings were falling apart and the homeless could be found on every block. Quite a few fires were burning, some out of barrels and others right out on the street or inside the buildings which weren't collapsed. People huddled together around the flames in hopes of staving off the cold autumn brough. In a small act of mercy, the winds from earlier in the day had suddenly died down to make the night just a bit more bearable.

The building Kazuma was inspecting was no shelter to the homeless. It was a massive piece of architecture, and in much better condition than those around it. From the outside, it looked just like any of the other barren structures, but a fuujutsu-shi wasn't limited to seeing it from the outside. On the inside was a well engineered operation with around forty men working and another twenty or so resting. The interior had been completely renovated and was acting as a base of operations for the White Fang recruits in this section of the city. The bulk of the building was being used to train and house recruits, while the basement was full of weapons, Dust, and food. They'd managed to get the plumbing back up it seemed, and had brought in generators to keep their equipment running. This operation wasn't some tiny smuggling ring as Junior had thought, but rather the home base for many of the recruits coming out of Vale. Willing Faunus were recruited here, taught how to fight and do whatever jobs they were assigned to, and sent wherever they were needed at the time.

'Pretty good system, I'll give them that. Let's get a closer look.' Kazuma landed invisibly on the roof of the building and walked in through an access door. The top floors, where the apartments themselves used to be, turned out to be mostly sleeping quarters. Since Faunus were more easily able to work at night than humans, there were few rooms occupied at the moment. More activity during the day made the chances of discovery greater, so most of the work was likely done at night. He walked down the corridors until he reached a staircase to ground level. There was a large gathering of people there and he figured it was as good a place as any to begin his investigation.

Upon reaching the bottom, Kazuma noticed two things that his spirits had not revealed. One was that the walls of this particular floor were plastered with maps, blueprints, and other documents used to help orient new members. Included were the plans for Beacon Academy, which Kazuma snatched while no one was looking. He was particularly unfond of being attacked in his sleep.

The second thing was less worrying but no less important. Now, despite Blake's usual antisocial behavior, she was somewhat more open with people she considered her partner, people who could be trusted to have her back when necessary, Kazuma included. This led to him knowing the girl better than just about anyone else on Remnant. So he remembered the morning she had told him about the one other person she had called her partner.

" _So, Neko-chan, gonna tell me what that was all about?"_

" _What are you talking about, Kazuma? And for the hundredth time, would you please stop calling me that?"_

" _No deal. Anyway, you were muttering in your sleep. Something about a guy named Adam. Boyfriend of yours?"_

The cat Faunus had shut up for hours after that, refusing to so much as look in Kazuma's direction, but at the end of the day she couldn't avoid telling him. She was living in his home, after all, and there needed to be trust between them if they were to work together. So eventually Kazuma learned all about Adam Taurus, a high-ranking member of the White Fang and Blake's partner before him. Coincidentally, also the man standing about fifty feet away going over a set of plans with this facility's leader. Adam wasn't exactly a hard guy to recognize, considering the fact that he was the only one there not dressed in the standard issue uniform.

He was exactly as Blake had described: Tall, red hair with two dark bull horns, a white mask with red markings covering the top half of his face. He carried a long, guardless katana on his waist and wore a black trenchcoat with his wilting rose symbol on the back. Adam happened to be in the middle of a conversation with the other Faunus, maybe a rat if the facial structure and teeth were any indication.

"Sir, we just don't have the manpower to do this on our own. We have our share of agents across the city, but breaking a man out of lockup?"

"As I've said, Captain, you just need to provide an escort out of there once the agent arrives with Torchwick. Shouldn't take more than four men, out of uniform."

"And why are we going out of our way to help a human, sir?" The rodent snarled.

"Because your betters have decided that he's useful. I suggest you remember who you are speaking to before you become decidedly less so." The bull Faunus' hand darted toward his weapon for emphasis.

The captain's eyes followed before snapping back up, at which time he nodded. "Sorry sir. It just doesn't sit right with me to help a racist like him. Who's the agent you're sending in, if I may ask?"

The redhead's hand relaxed and hung back by his side. "A girl, short with tricolored hair.. She doesn't talk, and don't piss her off. Almost got a hole in my hand the first time I met her." Taurus rubbed his hand as if nursing an old wound. "Anyway, she'll take care of the hard part. You just have to meet up with her and Torchwick and get them to the warehouse. Be ready to leave in an hour's time."

"Yes sir. Anything else before you head out?"

"No, that will be all."

The rat man gave a crisp salute as the other walked out the door. This base was right on the edge of the city, where no cops patrolled, so there was little danger in walking the streets and extraction via Bullhead would be pretty easy. The only danger was the border guards, but they were looking out for Grimm rather than the internal threats.

'Hmm, so that's Taurus. What a prick. If only I didn't have orders not to engage. . .' While nobody would ever call Kazuma cooperative or consistent, he didn't go directly against his employer's instructions when he could help it. Ozpin had told him not to engage the Fang if at all possible, and he was a businessman before anything else. He would abide by the terms of the contract. Besides, knowing that Taurus was around was something Blake would probably want to hear about. It was her past, after all, not his. Still, it didn't feel right to inspect the rest of the base and leave without incident.

'Wait, weren't they talking about springing Roman?' That sounded like fun. Kazuma actually somewhat liked the crime boss. Sarcastic with a touch of dry humor, ready to switch sides at leisure if it suited him. Roman was a slimy bastard to be sure, but the thief's code was an easy one to understand and work with. After all, it wasn't as if Kazuza could judge a person based on their police record.

So if he were to, say, break Roman out himself, Kazuma could screw with the Fang and get a buddy to go out and drink with at the same time. First order of business, though, was to finish gathering intel. A few probes finished the job within a few minutes, and even brought back some interesting results. Down in storage were some bottles with recognizable shapes, ones which Kazuma recognized as containing an especially valuable liquid. When he descended into the basement himself, the mage was delighted to find half a dozen bottles of Atlas Snowstorm: a rare whiskey usually reserved for officers of the military. How the Fang had gotten ahold of this stuff was a mystery, but it was Kazuma's now. The same could be said of several vials and crystals of Dust, a small box of Mistral's finest cigars, and another few bottles of various types of fine alcohol. "Whoever had ordered all of this stuff had good taste," Kazuma admitted to himself. "Now, I should get moving. Maybe I'll give Roman the cigars as a 'Sorry I turned you over to the cops' present."

* * *

Roman was sitting comfortably in a holding cell toward the back of Vale's central police station, relaxing as he waited for his rescue. He knew it was coming, if only because Cinder still had some need of him. He might be just a pawn to her, but pawns were as useful as any knight or rook when used carefully. So when his ice cream-themed associate, Neo, appeared in front of his cell like a ghost, Roman wasn't all that surprised. She was their assassination/infiltration expert, after all.

"Ah, so room service finally got around to delivering that ice cream I ordered. I tell you, these civil servant types really don't know how to treat their guests." The girl mimed a silent giggle at her target's quip. She wasn't the only one laughing, however; a deep chuckle came from Neo's side, causing both criminals to become alert. Roman was unarmed so he took a boxing stance, though he knew that if it came to a fight he would lose. Fortunately for him, Neo carried her weaponized umbrella with her wherever she went and was ready for a fight.

Of course, they weren't prepared for a figure to appear on the other side. Rather than engage them, Kazuma simply stood there with a small smirk on his face and a rather full sack in one hand. "Couldn't agree more. They don't even leave a mint on the pillow," he replied. Upon seeing their wariness, he visibly deflated. "Come on, I went to all the trouble of getting the key and this is how you treat me?"

Finally noticing who was in front of them, Neo lowered her umbrella and stared at their new guest in confusion while Roman grinned from ear to ear. "Ah, Kazuma, how nice to see you. Though I do have to wonder why the man who put me in this little slice of heaven is here with the key to my cell. Care to enlighten us?"

"Well, after your friend here knocked out the officer on duty, she may have forgotten to grab it." Neo looked at Roman sheepishly, who in turn just looked amused. "As for why I'm here in the first place, that's not important, now is it?" So saying, Kazuma unlocked the cell. Neo handed the newly freed prisoner his iconic hat and cane, whereas Kazuma offered him a cigar. "Consider it a little apology for putting you in here."

"You really know how to impress, don't you? Now where's my. . . damn it, cops took my lighter!" Neo saluted and skipped away, returning a minute later with the Dust-fueled lighter Roman always carried. Both men ignored the cry of pain they'd heard halfway through her trip. "Ah, good." A moment was take to light the cigar between Roman's lips, as well as one in Kazuma's hand. They each took a long drag before continuing. "What would we do without the finer things in life, eh? Back to Cinder's now, I take it?"

"Actually," Kazuma interjected, holding up the sack of stolen goods from the White Fang operation, "I was just here to help spring you, though I guess I wasn't really needed. So I'm gonna go back to Beacon and enjoy some spoils of war. If Cinder have a job for me anytime soon or you feel like going out for a drink, let me know. She has my number." After a moment, Kazuma disappeared as suddenly as he'd come.

The remaining two looked at at the empty space where their partner in crime had just been, then at each other. "Do you have any idea how he does that?" The mute girl shook her head. Shrugging in unison, the two walked their way out of the station cloaked in one of Neo's illusions and were at the docks within half an hour.

* * *

Kazuma, meanwhile, had made his way back to Beacon in less than half the time. Even back on Earth, people had always underestimated how fast the winds could propel a skilled fuujutsu-shi.

Kazuma made the decision to immediately report in if Ozpin was still up, since with the amount of booze he was carrying there was little chance he'd want to take care of it in the morning. Especially considering the fact that there was already a decent amount in his system from Junior's. Ki did an excellent job of purifying toxins from the body, but with enough alcohol even the strongest practitioners could could drunk off their asses. It was simply a matter of taking it in faster than it could burn off. He'd heard of some Huntsmen who could flare their Auras to burn off alcohol in a similar fashion, but ki was completely passive in that regard, like it or not.

It was around three in the morning, so when Kazuma stepped into the brightly lit elevator he was blinded for a moment. Upon regaining his bearings, he hit the button for the top floor of the tower. He was still carrying the sack of goodies, from which he grabbed one of the cigars. He would have broken into the whiskey, but he had neither a corkscrew nor a shot glass on hand. Come to think of it, he didn't have a corkscrew in his room, either. 'How the hell am I going to open these without spilling them? Guess I could cut them open, but then I couldn't reseal them for later. . ." The elevator's ding brought his wandering attention back to the doors. They opened to reveal a very tired looking Ozpin, sitting behind his desk with a stack of paperwork in front of him and looking very surprised at having a visitor.

"Professor Yagami? I wasn't expecting you until morning."

"Well, I thought I'd get the boring stuff out of the way now. Of course, if now's a bad time I could always come back."

"No, no, that's fine. I feel the need to ask one question, however: What's in the bag?"

"Oh, this?" Kazuma lifted the bag off his shoulder and held it in front of him. "Just some things I happened upon during my investigation."

"I see. And you plan to keep it for yourself?"

"Actually, if you have something to pop the corks with, I could be persuaded to share while I give my report." The grey-haired headmaster raised an eyebrow with a small, amused smile and opened up a drawer in his desk. A few seconds of rummaging brought forth the second most ornate corkscrew Kazuma had ever seen. First place definitely went to that monstrosity he'd been forced to use in Columbia. Thing had no damn regard for comfort, diamonds and bits of metal biting into the palm. He was almost tempted to try exorcising the evil thing.

In comparison, this one looked far better for the user's health. The metal was like silver but far brighter. Platinum, most likely. There were no gems, but the elegance of the indented pattern was admirable. The lines on the handle curved and twisted, all meeting the base of the screw itself. There were no protrusions, and the top was covered in a soft but uneven material, granting grip without sacrificing comfort.

"Fancy piece of equipment you've got there. Perk of being a headmaster?"

"Indeed," the older man answered. "A gift from the headmaster of Atlas Academy."

"That Ironwood stiff?"

Ozpin suppressed a laugh at his underling's casual insult of a fellow headmaster, as well as the general of the Atlas military. "He's a bit of a stickler for the rules, but a good man overall. But we're getting sidetracked, aren't we? Go ahead and give me your report."

Kazuma pulled out a bottle of the Snowstorm, using the magnificent screw to break the seal. He filled two glasses, again provided by Ozpin, and began to tell his boss what he'd learned: the location of the base, the maps and plans the Fang had access to, the numbers of men and equipment accumulated there, and the former presence of Taurus, one of the organization's leaders. By the time he'd finished, the two men had managed to put a sizable dent in the contents of the bottle.

"It seems to me that they may have the resources for a large scale attack within a few months. Did you overhear any plans in that vein?" Ozpin's question was a fair one. The amount of power the White Fang had managed to gather was equivalent to a military squadron in that base alone, and there was little doubt in his mind that other such stores existed outside the city itself.

Even with this much booze in him, Kazuma had enough sense to not reveal everything. "Nothing like that. Though they seem to be working with another faction. In fact, Taurus mentioned breaking Torchwick out of prison."

"Really? And why would that be?"

Shrugging, Kazuma finished off another glass. "No clue. Guess Torchwick wasn't just robbing Dust shops for fun. If the Fang have a hand in it, though, can't be anything good for you."

"A keen, and unfortunately accurate observation. If you receive any additional information about their operations, please relay it to me."

"Will do, sir. Now if there's nothing else, I'm gonna go back to my room." Kazuma picked up the sack and walked over to the elevator. He turned his head to the worried and overworked man in the chair. "Oh, and feel free to keep the bottle; I've got more. Just keep the curtain drawn. Can't have the students seeing the great and powerful Oz as a tired old man, now can we?"

 **And so we come to an end for now with a Wizard of Oz reference. Not sure if I played to every character's personality perfectly in this chapter, Kazuma included, but I think I got fairly well within the mark.**


	15. Chapter 15: A Class Hangover

**Ah, it's good to be able to write again. This probably would have gotten out yesterday, but after writing and debugging code all afternoon, I could not do so much as touch a keyboard. Anyway, I have some news. I'm going to be starting another story, this time a Reading story. FTDS has given me permission to do a reading of Naruto the Miracle Worker, and the first chapter should be be out some time this weekend. There will also be a Grimm Child update if I can help it. Of course, this being my main story, it should not impact the speed much. How much I update Wind Mage is almost entirely dependent on my course-load.**

 **GrandMaster of Fiction: Thanks, glad to have you around.**

 **YuukiAsuna-Chan: Good, hope you continue to enjoy as always.**

 **xxOblivionxxx: Not familiar with that character, actually. All I know is that he's from the Fate series, which I actually haven't finished. On my to-do list, lol.**

 **LL: You have the basic idea of how Cinder will try to interact. Clever as she is, Kazuma is not so easily fooled.**

 **GJO1088: He will likely not be teaching people from other academies, though he will interact with them in other ways.**

 **Kazuma: Loving the username, but I'm not familiar with the phrase "beta a story" as it applies to fanfiction. Is it like a Reading? Or a co-writing process?**

"Kami, my head. . ." To say Kazuma felt like shit was a massive understatement. His forehead felt like he'd tried to headbutt a sidewalk, his throat was completely devoid of moisture, and the ache in his joints was about as bad as when he'd gone out for a night with that girl in Thailand. Not to mention the searing hot flames he had in place of eyeballs when he looked out the window. Was the sun always that bright?

His ki was starting to undo the damage already, but the process was a slow one. After closing the curtains he checked the time and groaned. Not only had he stayed up until an ungodly hour drinking himself stupid, but he'd managed to pass out until one in the afternoon. It wouldn't have concerned him if it weren't for the fact that his first class of the day was at one-fifty. Well, now Kazuma had a reason to open up that bottle of painkillers in the bathroom. After taking approximately enough of them to kill a normal person and grabbing a quick, very cold shower, he rushed off down the halls as quickly as his aching body would allow.

He stopped by the dining hall just long enough to grab an apple and a glass of water before finding his way into his own room, which several students had beaten him to. 'Another ten minutes and I would have been late.' He didn't really care about the tardiness itself, but Goodwitch would have his ass for it and that would just make the headache worse. When class was officially supposed to begin, he stood up and addressed the class, wobbling slightly as he did so.

"Alright, welcome to the second lesson. Let's get right down to business. Last time I asked you to be ready to demonstrate your fighting style or at least be prepared to work with me on your Aura manipulation, so. . ." he paused for a moment, holding his head and recollecting his thoughts. "We'll start with that. Any questions before we get started?" A hand went up in one of the middle rows. "Yes, Ms. Nikos?"

"Professor, are you feeling alright?" She asked with a large amount of concern evident in her voice. "You look like you're having some trouble just staying upright." As if on cue, Kazuma's balance faltered and he was forced to lean on his desk.

"I don't need you to worry about my health, Pyrrha. I'm fine, or at least I will be in a bit. Now, does anyone else wants to comment on my sorry state this morning? No? Good, then Ms. Nikos can come down first."

The girl in question walked down to the open space at the front of the room, stopping in front of the specialized training dummy Kazuma had set up the previous day. "Do you use any Dust in your style?"

"No, sir."

"In that case, just hit the dummy with an Aura-infused strike. Style doesn't matter, just channel as much Aura as you would normally with one strike. Try to get the maximum impact with the amount you use."

Nodding her assent, Pyrrha began to channel her Aura into her fist. She wasn't much of a martial artist, but this was about the efficiency with which she could channel her power. After a moment, she threw a punch into the dummy, causing it to rock backwards. At the same moment, Kazuma's Scroll lit up with a few statistics that had been collected by the sensors within. He whistled upon seeing the result. The strike had quite a bit of Aura packed into it, though from what he naturally sensed in Pyrrha it was a large portion of her reserves. The impact strength and penetration of the punch was nothing to mock, either. Had that been a man's head, the skull would be in bite-sized pieces.

"Very good, Ms. Nikos. Excellent technique, though I wouldn't recommend channeling that much on a regular basis. Your reserves couldn't handle more than a dozen of those. You probably already know that, though, and just wanted to see how well you could do, right?"

"Yes sir, I'm sorry. I'll be more restrained in the future."

"Good, take your seat. Can I have Ms. Rose to the front next?"

He proceeded to take the same measurements for every student in the class. Ren and Yang, unsurprisingly, scored very well. Yang, in fact, nearly destroyed the dummy. This wasn't a matter of the amount of Aura channeled or the efficiency, but rather how it synergized with her raw strength. Nora's results were equally staggering, but her strength proved to come more from Aura than natural power. There was no mistake that she was strong, but her frame was simply not built for quite as much power as Yang's, forcing her to make up the difference this way.

Ruby was woefully unsuited to the task, being both weaker than the others and less practiced in Aura manipulation. Weiss had virtually no impact whatsoever due to a lack of muscular power, but her Aura caused the power and penetration to become passable. Jaune was a middle-tier fighter in terms of strength, but dumped a ton of Aura into it. He used way more than he should have had to for a good strike meaning his efficiency sucked, but it was basically a drop in the bucket when compared to his overall capacity. He already knew about Blake's Aura, which served mostly to increase piercing power and did little for impact potential.

Velvet and her teammate Fox were the two members of their team who had opted into the course, and both proved to be highly efficient. In contrast to most of the others, Velvet's style of manipulation involved pushing the power directly into her leg muscles and kicking the target, similar to what Nora did with her arms. Fox's power was concentrated externally as normal, but rather than allowing the force to penetrate the target, he made the force explode internally. This ruined a few of the dummy's sensors, but thankfully Kazuma had extra targets laying around just in case. Both students showed impressive skills, especially for second-year students. The third and fourth-year students were all powerful, and in most cases efficient, but just didn't have the same innovation shown by the younger students. A generational gap, perhaps?

Whatever it was, he still needed more information. Ideally, he'd like to get actual combat data on all of the students in order to help them with their own styles, and the only ones with that kind of access were Goodwitch and Ozpin, neither of whom probably trusted him enough to just hand him all of the students' weaknesses on a silver platter. Well, maybe Ozpin could be convinced, but the Witch would be against it wholeheartedly.

'Concern for later,' he thought as the last student, a third-year student with huge muscles, finished up. "Alright, that's all of the data. We seem to have an interesting range of techniques in here. Yang, Fox, Velvet, and Ren all seem to be proficient in assisting their melee attacks with Aura, though efficiency could be worked on. The rest of you rely highly on your weapons as conduits. I suggest you bring them in for next class so I can get better readings. Now, some of you seem to be having problems with the basics of manipulation, so we'll have to do this from the beginning."

Like last time, he began to sketch out some diagrams on the blackboard. This time, he was drawing a human arm. The first stage involved building up Aura, the second was focusing it into a layer on top of the knuckles, and the third was a 'bullet' of energy going into the target.

"Now, this is the most basic method of impact amplification which Aura makes available to us. There are plenty others, and several students in this class have shown a proficiency for more advanced techniques. But every Huntsman should probably know how to do at least this in case they're caught without a weapon, understand?" A large number of the student's nodded their heads. "The steps are fairly simple. Build up Aura, direct it, and send it into whatever you're hitting at the time of impact. You could also just keep it on your fist to serve as protection and to enhance the impact itself, which is a slightly easier style. No less effective, though, and is prefered by many brawler types who don't care about crippling internal structures. It's more meant to apply blunt-force trauma from the outside."

"Aura reacts to your wills and desires, so the stronger your emotions and resolves, the easier it will be to manipulate and the more power it will provide. But to make efficient use of it, the fighter must have a clear mind and strong discipline. Otherwise you're just flinging power around like an animal, and you'll eventually die like one if you keep doing that. It's wasteful and leaves you without much in the way of defense."

"Now since it's probably not doing any of you much good to listen without practice, you can all come up and practice on the dummies. I'll set up the extras so a bunch of you can train at once. Oh, and Mr. Alistair, please don't break any more, they're kind of expensive." So saying he secured all of the other targets and sat behind his desk. After watching their progress for a few minutes he was rudely awakened by someone pushing on his shoulder. . . wait, awakened? 'When did I fall asleep? This is the second time in the last couple of days.'

"Professor?" He heard from beside him. It was the familiar voice of one Yang Xiao Long, who entered his vision a moment later. "Did you sleep well last night? You look like hell, and you passed out."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, class ended like five minutes ago and I didn't know whether to draw something on your face or be concerned."

"Well, I guess I'm glad you woke me up then. I drank way too much last night; still a bit hungover."

Yang's slight frown turned into a smile of amusement. She snorted, saying "Ah, a lightweight huh? What's the matter, can't hold your wine?"

"More like a few bottles of whiskey and some hard liquor. Now, don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yeah, yeah. We've got like an hour before Port's class. More importantly, why wouldn't you tell me you had something like like? I haven't had a chance to get out of Beacon since we came here, and you can't get booze anywhere on campus! I'd do just about anything to get my hands on some."

"Anything?" He arched an eyebrow and his eyes traveled vaguely downward.

"Almost, buddy. I think we've been through this already, and we agreed I wasn't that kind of girl."

Kazuma shrugged as well as he could from his position slouched down in the chair. "Whatever. Not even sure what the age of consent is in Vale, and I'm not gonna tempt fate here." Realizing that he was pretty uncomfortable, he righted himself. He felt a lot better after that nap, his body and ki having mostly flushed the toxins, but now he had a pretty bad knot in the back of his neck. Any more naps in that desk chair were not gonna be good for his spine.

Yang sat on his desk and pouted slightly, crossing her arms above her chest. "Ass. Anyway, think Blake wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Dunno." She shrugged off the deadpan stare Kazuma hit her with. "Just said that if you had some time she needed to talk and that she'd wait in the courtyard for a little while. She doesn't tell us much, really. Maybe a night out on the town will take care of that moody attitude of hers. . ."

"Did wonders when I took her out to Junior's. Blake and booze mix _wonderfully_."

"Seriously?"

"Of course not. That's a terrible idea," he said, ignoring Yang's pout. When he took Blake out that one time, she'd gotten super emotional and broken down crying over Adam. Of course, that'd been right after he found her, so the difficulty of leaving him was forefront in her mind, but that didn't mean that doing it again was a good plan. Who knew what she'd do?

Yang sighed and returned to the ground. "Well, now that you know I'm gonna head out."

He watched her go with a neutral look across his face, mentally appreciating the view. 'She really is good looking.' Kazuma could be called by some to be a fine critic of the female form, and by others a pervert with no sense of shame. All a matter of viewpoint really, not that he even cared what people thought or said about him so long as he didn't have to deal with any real consequences.

'Might as well see what the stray wants. Oh, and I guess I'll let the Beauty know that Beast of her's is in town while I'm at it.'

 **The second class, what did you all think? I know some of you wanted to see Kazuma teach some more. Also, if you have noticed and wonder why I skipped over the events of "The Badge and the Burden: Part Two," know that I haven't. I just moved them until after the first day, and they will be appearing soon. Well, that's about it, goodnight everybody, and leave whatever thoughts you have down below in the Reviews.**


	16. Chapter 16: Impromptu Therapy

**Been a little while since I've gotten a chapter out, so you guys deserve this. A tiny bit longer than average, so consider it my late fee.**

 **garoorar: I definitely am building up to something with Kazuma, so stay tuned.**

 **xxOblivionxxx: Thanks for the clarification. Anyone who could stomp Kazuma without effort is frightening, considering he can hold back a demon lord with only a small amount of help.**

 **ThePizziaMan: It is not stated exactly what kind of relationship Blake and Adam were in, so I took some liberties for the sake of the story. All we know for sure is that they were very close as partners, and that Adam is very possessive of her.**

 **Well, I won't keep you any longer.**

Kazuma was seen soon after his class by several students walking the halls looking quite distracted, though it was understandable considering he was marking on paperwork the entire way. Several of the more personable students tried to approach him, but he passed by them as if he didn't even notice they existed. His path brought him meandering out to his final destination, the main courtyard of Beacon, just as he finished. He stowed his clipboard under one arm and shoved the pen into a jacket pocket before looking around. Of course, he already knew where the person he was looking for was sitting, but seeing the world through the spirits was quite different than with his own eyes. She was sitting on a bench toward the center of the area, on one side of the main avenue which led up to the school's statue. The sculpture was an imposing piece and the whole area was well manicured, giving the landscape an air of importance.

Blake was sitting at one end of the bench, so Kazuma politely sat on the other side and lit up a cigarette. 'Should have gotten a new lighter during that last job,' he mused, realizing that he was still using matches for a light. Breathing out a puff of smoke, he sighed and waited for the girl to talk. He waited, waited, and waited some more. About ten minutes more, actually, and he ended up lighting a second cigarette before saying anything.

"If you're wasting my time I'm gonna be pissed. What did you want?"

Silence ensued for another few seconds before he got any kind of response. "Kazuma, are you feeling alright?"

The professor turned and looked his student in the face, surprised but not showing it in the slightest. "Just fine."

"Really? You call arguing with Yang about her past and coming into class the next day with a hangover fine?"

"If I do it's none of your business, Neko-chan. I appreciate a stray looking after her owner, but don't overstep your boundaries," he said, his cold tone signalling that the matter was to be dropped. Blake knew, as frustrating as it was, that another word on the subject would be an unwise move.

"Fine. But could you start calling me by my name? The team's starting to dig, and that stunt in the courtyard yesterday didn't help."

"Wasn't supposed to. You know they're going to find out eventually, right? Even if they don't, I'd eventually tell them." His eyes had begun wandering, interest in the conversation waning. After all, it wasn't like she could hide forever, and if she didn't realize that she was an idiot. Should just go and tell her team before any trust is lost.

"Kazuma." There was a hardness to her voice that brought the man's focus back in full. "Please, don't say a word, I'm practically begging you. I want them to see me for who I am, not the ears on my head."

The mage narrowed his eyes, a piercing glare directed at his former partner. "Oh? And who exactly are you?"

Blake felt a chill run down her back, causing her mind to go blank for a moment. "W-what do you mean?"

Kazuma was genuinely angry now, his patience considerably thinner from his lack of restful sleep. "You're Blake Belladonna, a Faunus and a former member of the White Fang, and no bow can change you. I hate people who lie to themselves, and you know that better than anyone. The only reason I haven't ripped that damned bow off is because you need to learn for yourself who the hell you want to be." The Faunus was too stunned to respond, paralyzed by the venom in the words and the power of his existence. It felt as if she were about to be set upon by a windstorm, thrown around and torn into millions of pieces. As familiar as she was with Kazuma's strength of will, it was still all she could do just to resist the urge to comply. Kazuma settled down after about a minute, releasing the tension and allowing Blake to breath easy again. "I could force you, you know."

"You could," Blake agreed. "You won't, but you certainly could." As much of a moral degenerate as Kazuma was, he had a certain respect for strong-willed individuals that Blake was using against him. It was the only reason Yang's issue had been allowed to slide, either. He respected the right of individuals to do what they wanted, so long as the people in question accepted the consequences of their actions.

"What you're doing is irrevocably stupid. It's not like you can't handle yourself against a bunch of bullies. You're just setting yourself up to fail."

"It's my choice, Kazuma. All I'm asking is that you respect it." It was a request rather than a plea. A moment's hesitation separated it from the answer.

"I still don't like it."

"Thank you," Blake said with a small smile playing across her lips. She knew that disgruntled response was Kazuma's reluctant way of agreeing.

"You shouldn't. Especially since I have something of my own to talk to you about." Blake's smile faded at the serious tone, knowing that whatever he had to say wasn't going to be good. Kazuma took a final puff of the cigarette before throwing the butt down and stomping on it. "My last job brought me in contact with the Fang."

She frowned, wondering why Kazuma would bring it up. "It doesn't surprise me. You are serving as a Huntsman. Even a few of our mission had us going against them. I left, Kazuma."

"Yeah, but this time I saw something interesting." He paused, readying himself for any possible reactions. "Taurus is in Vale, and he's collecting a small army. Whatever he's got planned, it's happening sooner rather than later, and it will be big. Seems like he's even more of a monster than when you left."

At first, she just sat on the bench, eyes unflinching and body perfectly upright. She was staring straight into his eyes, looking for any sign of lying or uncertainty but seeing none. Ascertaining that what she was being told was true, her head sank a few inches, eyelids coming down. She'd known that Adam had become a monster, that he wasn't the man she once knew. That didn't make it any less painful to hear about. A few tears leaked out, but she felt a breeze brush against her cheeks and blow them away.

"Don't break down on me like you did at the bar. I'd prefer not to leave a girl crying in the middle of the schoolyard if I can help it; people might get the wrong idea. Collect yourself and get back to your team. Yang told me you have to be at Port's soon."

The girl nodded and stood up. She took a few paces toward the main academic building before turning to address Kazuma with a faint smirk. "You're a terrible counselor, you know that?"

"Good, means nobody's asking me to listen to their problems. Just listening to yours makes me want to drink again." Blake rolled her eyes before walking away, spirits somewhat restored. It may have been hard to hear, but she needed to hear it. Adam's choice was to continue a campaign of bloodshed. When the time came, she would be there to stop him. And she would have at least one person by her side, even if he said it wasn't his problem.

* * *

'Well, that could have gone worse.' Blake had reacted better to the news than he'd expected. Then again, the only other time he'd discussed the subject with her was when she had gotten wasted at Junior's, so there wasn't much to base his judgements on. He checked his Scroll for the time and saw that it was almost three o'clock. Enough time to finish his paperwork before dinner at the mess hall, assuming he got right to it.

Upon returning to his classroom, he found that there actually wasn't much to do. Just finalize the lesson plans and sign off on a bunch of forms which required his acknowledgement or approval. In other words, bureaucratic bullshit that barely took half a brain to do despite taking a while to read over. Meanwhile, the rest of his attention was struggling to understand his students. He hadn't known any of them for very long, but in the space of a few hours he'd had three of them asking about his health, indicating that they were probably the selfless type. 'Or maybe I just look like shit,' his mind unwelcomely added. It was true that his sleep had been interrupted by nightmares lately, not to mention that drunken blackouts tended not to be all that restful. But it was better than remembering her face, and those words.

His eyes glazed over slightly, his mind remembering what he was reading yet not paying much attention as he slowly drifted into that unwelcome territory which so often haunted his dreams. Before him was a woman, a bit younger than he was now. Brown hair, an upbeat smile, and beautiful green eyes. After what seemed to be a few moments, the scene faded to black. In the center of his vision was the same girl, the one he'd failed to save. Vulnerable, scared, bleeding. She looked at him with the most hollow eyes, eyes asking for salvation.

" _I was not born. . . to be devoured by a devil._ "

It was horrifying. He watched as her life, the essence of her soul, was eaten away by some unknown force. Once she was completely consumed the location changed again. He was standing in a crater, vaguely aware of Ayano and Ren beside him. Standing across from him was a girl very similar to the previous one, but with brilliant blue eyes instead. Her face was completely impassive as she spoke, in the same voice but without any emotion.

" _I want to kill you._ "

Kazuma's head snapped up. The memory had disrupted his ki slightly and caused him to feel sick. He dropped his face into his hand, feeling absolutely pathetic that something as distant as the memory of her could have such a great effect on him. He chuckled to himself pitifully, fully aware that if anyone were present they'd think he had hit the absolute bottom. 'Ayano always kept me focused on the present, I suppose. Didn't have time to think about the past when she was trying to roast me.'

And yet he was the one playing therapist and trying to solve other people's problems. First the fiasco with Yang, then breaking the news to Blake. All the while acting strong so as to not show them any weakness. If he were watching from an outsider's perspective, he would have beaten himself half to death by now. Since when did Kazuma Yagami, businessman and Contractor, give himself permission to sit around and mope? Now aboard that train of thought, he returned to the papers on his desk. In a surprisingly pleasant turn of events, he'd managed to finish off the paperwork without noticing.

"Alright," he said to no one as he selected a few sheets, "let's get these up to Ozpin." Included in the stack were a variety of different papers, but most important was the form requesting access to the student records. Might as well try official channels before resorting to more personal means, saved a lot of hassle. Checking the time again revealed that he'd been working/daydreaming for over three and a half hours, meaning Ozpin could be anywhere on campus at the moment. The man liked his tower, but didn't spend his time there in the evenings unless he had to work late.

'Speak of the devil,' Kazuma thought as the aged Huntsman came into view. He hailed his boss and handed over the pile of documents with a nod. "Good, now I don't have to walk all the way to the tower."

Ozpin didn't respond immediately, instead choosing to focus on what he'd been giving. Before long he looked Kazuma in the eyes with an eyebrow raised. "Mr. Yagami, what are you planning to do with the student's personal information? It's very sensitive information, after all."

"It says right in the form, Oz: I'd like to analyze their fighting styles and look for anything I can improve. They each have their own unique styles, though. I'm sure some advanced Aura and Dust techniques could boost their power enough to make a difference out in the field, but I don't know how they fight, not well enough to incorporate it. I'd rather not waste time with making everyone spar just to find that out. That's Goodwitch's job."

"You have no ulterior motives?"

"Of course I do." The younger professor answered the question as if it were common sense. "Knowing more about them gives me the ability to blackmail and an advantage if I fight them in the future. Question is, how much do you trust me not to use the information the wrong way?" There was no fooling the headmaster, so Kazuma wasn't even going to try. There was no reason to lie when you'd already been caught, so why bother?

"I see. I'll take your request under consideration. In the meantime, there's a small favor you could do for me."

"And that is?"

"I've just had a chat with Ruby Rose, whom I believe you know. I'm a busy man, and if you would ensure she ate and returned to her room safely I'd be quite appreciative. Maybe enough to agree to your terms." Sneaky bastard. Kazuma gave credit where it was due, and Ozpin was holding the cards here. Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck and nodded his acceptance. This was shaping up to be a long day. "Excellent. Please be aware she may be a bit, shall we say distressed at the moment." Without explaining, the white-haired man walked off quickly.

* * *

'Correction: Today is turning out to be an _extremely_ long day.' At the moment he was walking toward the dining hall with the young huntress-in-training by his side. When he'd found her, she was in the most subdued state he'd ever witnessed, simply walking down the halls looking at nothing. He suggested that they walk to the mess hall together, casually asking what she'd spoken to Ozpin about soon after. Over the next few minutes she recounted the story of Port's practical exercise (the mysteriously appearing cage reminding Kazuma of the switch under Port's desk) and the argument that ensued. Finishing off the story was the account of her conversation with the headmaster about the burden of leadership. Ruby was surprisingly calm about the whole thing, as if unsure how to react.

Once they had gotten their food and sat down, she ventured a question of her own. "Professor, do you think I have what it takes? How should I do all those things Ozpin was talking about?"

'Great, Ozpin has me playing therapist again.' Three times in twenty-four hours had to be some kind of record. Kazuma put down his silverware and gave his student a long look of scrutiny, causing the girl to squirm in her seat.

"Couldn't say."

"What?"

"I'm not a leader, Ruby. I couldn't tell you what makes a good one. In my family it was survival of the fittest where the strongest child became head of the clan and talent was everything. After I left I fended for myself for the most part."

"Oh. . . sorry to ask such a dumb question."

She felt a hand hit her in the back of the head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"For thinking you were dumb. Have some confidence in yourself, kid. While I've never been much of a leader, I've seen plenty of people who have. There's all different types of leadership, I think, but not one of them lacks confidence. Just don't let it turn into ego or you'll have a rebellion on your hands." She pouted, causing Kazuma to look at her in disbelief. If he were being honest, the expression was just too adorable. She was also eyeing a piece of cake on his plate, as if willing him to hand it over.

"If I give you the cake, will you stop with the pouting?" Seeing no response, he picked up the plate and got up. He hadn't taken a single step when her arm shot out and grabbed the man's jacket, face now pleading with him. 'Damn, never could turn Ren down when he did that.' With a sigh he sat back down and wordlessly handed her the slice of cake. Consequently, her eyes lit up and she consumed the dessert with extreme prejudice. "Wasn't cookies your thing?"

Swallowing her last mouthful, she licked her lips. "I love cookies, but cake's good too."

"So can I assume you're done doubting yourself?"

"Well, I'm still not sure about being a leader and all. But what else is there to do? I can't just hand the position back. I'll do what I can and go from there." There was a squeak of indignation as her hair was ruffled, much to Kazuma's amusement.

"Good. Now, let's get you back to your room." This time the trip was full of life and conversation, the professor making fun of his student while she yapped like a puppy about any topic under the sun. Once she was home, Kazuma found his way back to his own room, stripped down for the night, and fell into a restless sleep once again. 'At least this one wasn't alcohol-fueled,' he thought as he drifted off.

 **A look into Kazuma's head. Without a stabilizing personality by his side, the ghosts of the past come back. Brief mentions were made in earlier chapters to his lack of good sleep and drinking. And before anyone asks why he wasn't having these issues earlier in the story, there are several reasons that will be explained. As always, I'd like to hear what everyone thinks in the reviews. That's all for now, and sometime during the week you can expect another chapter of Reading: Naruto the Miracle Worker if you are interested.**


	17. Chapter 17: Shopping Disasters

**Well, little later than I wanted to get this out but here it is.**

 **garoorar: The action will resume shortly, so stay tuned! There's just not a whole lot that goes on fighting-wise at this point in the story.**

 **Naruto Uchiha 999: Sorry about the spoiler! Should have put a second disclaimer down there, now that you bring it up. I will not be doing a chapter fully exploring Yagami's past, but it will be revealed piece by piece throughout. If you want to know more about it but don't have the time to watch/read, look up his article on the Kaze no Stigma wiki (Just search his name, should be one of the first results). As for the nightmares, you'll see. All I can say is it won't be pretty.**

 **Enjoy!**

"Professor Yagami!" The man in question groaned, not enjoying the noisy atmosphere of the dining hall in general but especially disliking the yelling of one Yang Xiao Long. Normally he didn't mind interacting with the sunny-haired Huntress-in-training, but he'd had another long night of drinking at Junior's. He hadn't given himself another hangover, thank goodness for that, but he was still quite tired and just wanted to get food into his stomach. Instead, he was called over to a table at which all the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR were sitting.

"What do you want?" He asked with unveiled irritation.

"Well, we were all thinking about going into Vale for the day and wanted to know whether you'd join us."

"Why would I want to spend my free time with you brats?"

Yang sent him a dull look, gesturing toward the teachers all eating breakfast together at the other side of the hall. "Do you really want to hang around Beacon all day like them, just doing paperwork? C'mon, Blake said you two always went out shopping and stuff on your days off, and I know you like to hang at Junior's." The Faunus eyed her partners, plural, expectantly. She was obviously hoping that Kazuma would join them.

'Don't remind me,' was Kazuma's first response, but he thought better about voicing it. It'd been a few weeks since classes started, and Blake had only been more and more persistent about his lack of sleep and the generous amount of alcohol he'd been putting into his body. Yang noticed as well, but seemed content to let the man handle himself. "If I wanted to go into Vale on my day off, I'd just do it myself."

"But where's the fun in that?" Ruby brought up, not understanding why Kazuma would prefer to go alone. After all, friends made everything better, didn't they?

"Please, Professor, join us. Wouldn't it be good for you to get out and relax for the day?" Pyrrha this time, one of the other thorns in his side. She was a very honorable person, and had made it her mission to 'help' him, meaning she wanted to figure out how to make him stop drinking so much and coming to class half-dead.

By now everyone from the two teams was staring at him sans Ren and Weiss. The former simply had no opinion on the matter, whereas Weiss held no fondness for Kazuma in the first place. Besides Weiss, however, they'd all gained some form of respect or affection for the sarcastic mercenary. His words of encouragement to Ruby, his concern over Yang's path, and the time he'd spent with Blake had created solid bonds with all three.

As for Team JNPR, all four members had great respect for his strength. For Jaune, Kazuma was a sort of goal to reach. He was especially hard on Jaune, but the few occasions in class where he praised the young Huntsman made the sleepless nights spent studying Dust application worth the trouble. In Ren's eyes, Kazuma was a fellow martial artist and a teacher, one who could fight with greater skill and could be learned from. Nora just enjoyed the amount of destruction the mage could cause, simple as that.

Pyrrha's views were slightly more complex than those of her teammates. On one hand, Kazuma was a great warrior, one who made her title as the "Untouchable Girl" completely null and void. His overwhelming power appealed to her on many levels, as did the way he treated her like any other student. Many of her professors at Sanctum had lauded her as a genius, separating her from the other students, and the same mentality seemed to be taking hold here, if to a much lesser degree. There was a reason only Pyrrha was chosen for one v. many bouts in sparring classes. Kazuma, however, never singled her out during class or held her up like some kind of shining example. Maybe he viewed her as weak for losing to him, but even if that were the case she wouldn't mind. It just meant that she had a reason to grow stronger.

The other side of her was confused and worried. Kazuma was extremely young for a professor, being only in his early twenties, but seemed to carry himself similarly to many older Huntsmen she'd observed. He'd no doubt seen death, and she had the suspicion that he may have taken lives himself in the past. On top of that, something seemed to be disturbing him. The signs of sleep deprivation were obvious, as were the hangovers he nursed at the beginning of many classes. Pyrrha wasn't a psychologist, but she didn't need to be to come to the conclusion that something was bothering him. Helping others was part of her code, she believed it be her destiny, so she couldn't just ignore a person suffering right in front of her.

Kazuma himself had sat down and begun eating, mulling over their students' offer. He didn't really have anything else to do all day, but at the same time he would be dragged around town by a bunch of teenagers. Even if they were considered adults in this society, there was still an age gap of at least five years between them. Beyond that, it would be noisy and hectic with eight other people.

Of course, he had wanted to get to know more about his students. Blake and the sisters he knew to one extent or another, but the rest were enigmas. Ozpin had been true to his word about granting access to the student files, but they only told him about Semblances, fighting styles, and test results.

He looked over toward the group again to find that Ruby had moved right next to him. She was giving him a pleading look that just oozed cuteness. He forced himself to look back down at his plate, determined not to let his mind be made up by something like that. Despite his resistance, he couldn't resist glancing over again. . .

* * *

"Damn it, I had it easy just dealing with Ren."

"Hmm?" Blake hummed, sensitive ears barely catching Kazuma's muttered curse. They were currently walking down an avenue in downtown Vale, along with the other seven students. They were passing shops of every variety and the occasional club, though those weren't open yet seeing as it was only one in the afternoon.

"Does Ruby pout every time she wants something?" he asked the group as a whole, bringing out a cry of protest from the youngest member of the group.

"Pretty much," Yang answered, "why?"

"She reminds me so much of my brother. Could probably make even the best con artists give in if he cried."

"Yep, sounds like Ruby." The younger sibling didn't know whether her sister and Kazuma were complimenting her or insulting her at the moment, she really had no clue. The others were chuckling over the casual conversation, trying to imagine a male version of Ruby making loan sharks feel bad about taking money from him.

A few more minutes of walking brought them outside a store named Tukson's Book Trade, a store which Blake and Kazuma immediately noticed. It was one of Blake's favorite shops, with a large selection of uncommon books, and one of only a few places in Vale that sold the _Ninjas of Love_ series. Kazuma looked at the black-haired girl, sighing when he noticed the look in her eyes.

"Guys, we're heading over there for a few. I'll track you all down after." Blake and he began walking toward the storefront, followed a few seconds later by Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss. There wasn't always much to do during their free time at Beacon, so each thought a little reading material would do wonders for relieving boredom, though each of them also had a very different idea of what to buy. Weiss was looking for a dramatic novel, Pyrrha thought a good mystery would be good, while Jaune wanted to pick up the newest issue of X-Ray and Vav.

Upon entering, they group heard a slow tune being hummed from the back of the store. Kazuma rang the bell, receiving a "I'll be right with you" while the owner of the store finished up whatever he was doing. The others busied themselves looking through the new releases on display, with the exception of Blake who stayed as well.

The man who walked out was broad-chested, with neatly trimmed black hair and thick sideburns. Blake and Kazuma knew him to be Tukson, owner of the shop and some kind of feline Faunus, though they had never figured out what type. Maybe a jaguar, or even a puma. Yeah, a puma seemed to fit, at least it did when Kazuma thought about it.

"Blake, Kazuma. Good to see you. I thought maybe you two moved away," the shopkeeper greeted.

"Kinda did," the other man replied, "but just to the top of the cliffs."

Tukson furrowed his brow, not quite sure what to think about the comment. "What, you mean Beacon Academy? Come to think of it, you did want to become a Huntress, right Blake? I guess that means you go in."

The girl nodded. "And the fool here is teaching, if you can believe it." Kazuma just shrugged, letting the playful insult slide.

"Interesting. Anyway, what can I do for you two?" He looked over to see the other three browsing the shop, paying no attention to the counter. "Friends of yours?"

The younger Faunus nodded. "Do you have the latest editions of my usual series?"

Tukson thought for a moment before speaking. "If I remember correctly, you were on the fourth book last time you came, right?" Another nod. "I have five and six. Would you like the," he spared another glance at the others, all of whom had finished their searches and were deciding what to buy, "discreet covers?"

Kazuma snickered at the red tint his companion's face took. "Please. Also, if you have a copy of _Singularity_?" The puma Faunus - it was decided in Kazuma's mind - took out two black books from under the counter, neither of which had any titles, just designs in red and numbers toward the bottoms of the spines, along with the name of the author.

"Should have a few in the drama section." Blake walked over and quickly pulled out a copy of the final book, then returned to the counter to pay for it all. During the checkout, Tuskson's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he were trying to solve a puzzle. The others had gathered around the counter as well, also ready to buy.

"Blake, when did you start wearing the bow?"

"About the time I entered Beacon, why?" The cat replied to her fellow feline Faunus.

"No reason in particular, it just doesn't look natural to me."

Kazuma threw up his hands in mock exasperation. "That's what I'm always telling her!"

"Kazuma, we talked about this!" Blake hissed. "You said you would respect my decision."

"I never said that, Neko-chan. Besides, I'm not forcing you to do anything, am I? I'm just agreeing with the man."

"Umm. . . I-I'm not sure what's going on here." The two former partners turned to look at the speaker, who happened to be one Jaune Arc. Remembering that there were three people in the room who weren't privy to her secret, the Faunus stormed out of the door, wanting to get away from the situation as quickly as possible. "So, uh, what was that about?"

"It seemed like more than just a comment on Blake's fashion sense," the Schnee heiress commented. "What are you two hiding from us?"

"Nothing, really," Kazuma answered with an annoyed expression. He sighed before waving the group ahead to pay. "Just forget about it, and don't say anything to the others. She'll just get even more upset. It's something stupid, I promise, but it means a lot to her that it stays between us."

Tukson was almost as confused as the students, not understanding why Blake had suddenly started hiding her heritage. He supported Blake's reasoning wholeheartedly, of course, wanting to put his own past behind him and lead a life in which he wasn't discriminated against. He hadn't known that displaying her ears had been forced upon her by Kazuma, and was trying to figure out just why he'd made such a demand in the first place. He knew he's already caused enough damage, however unintentional, so his main objective at the moment was to bring things to a quick and clean resolution, at least for now.

Everyone payed for their books and walked out, Kazuma having snagged a copy of an atlas for future reference. He'd seen plenty of maps of Remnant during his time in this world, but figured he'd be travelling a lot more now that he was technically a Huntsman. Blake was standing not far away from the store and walked back to join them. Despite her frustration and annoyance, it wasn't as if Kazuma or Tukson had blurted out her secret. She'd also heard the remainder of the conversation from just outside of the store, so she knew that Kazuma had done what damage control he could with Weiss asking about it.

"I saw that the others went into the diner over there a few minutes ago," Kazuma brought up. "We should probably join them for lunch." All four of the student's voiced their consent via their stomachs, the girls having enough decency to look abashed whereas Jaune just covered his gut with a hand and groaned.

As they walked into the diner, someone else slipped out of the door. It was a girl Kazuma recognized, with mint green hair and deeply tanned skin. He felt a slight pressure in his back pocket as she passed, so miniscule that he wouldn't have felt it if he weren't focusing on the pickpocket already. He immediately checked, but to his surprise his wallet was still there, alongside a folded up note. He looked down the street and caught sight of her. She winked as her figure disappeared into an alley.

"Kazuma! What are you waiting for?" He looked back into the diner to see Ruby waving at him while simultaneously stuffing her face with some kind of desert. All he could discern from the entrance was that it had a lot of chocolate in it. He smiled and decided that he would deal with the thief's little notice after a good meal.

 **I know you guys might be getting a little tired of setup, but bear with me just a little longer. The next chapter will have some action, promise. Then come the events of Jaundice and Forever Fall, which should be good. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in a review, whatever they may be.**


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